Sunday Quiz Music and musical instruments
A yazh at a museum in Tamil Nadu.
START THE QUIZ
1 / 10 |
On June 28, 1846, Belgian musician Adolphe ___ obtained his patent for a new musical instrument he had invented. Though these instruments are made of brass, they are categorised as woodwind instruments as sound is produced by an oscillating reed rather than lips vibrating in a mouthpiece cup. The player controls the pitch by covering different holes by pressing keys. What is this instrument you’d hear in any smooth jazz or instrumental romantic cover? What is Adolphe’s full name?
2 / 10 |
This ancient musical instrument has been used to create divine sounding music for more than 6000 years. There has been some variant of it in every ancient culture, from the ‘yazh’ in ancient Tamil civilisation to the lyre in ancient Greece. Generally it is a frame which has string made of catgut but nowadays nylon or metal. What instrument is this that cartoon watching kids usually associate with angels?
3 / 10 |
This stringed instrument has an Italian name that refers to the fact it is a smaller version of another instrument that looks like an ‘almond’. It commonly has eight strings bunched up in pairs and is featured prominently in European classical music. It became popular in India, thanks to classical musician and child prodigy Uppalapu Srinivas. What instrument is this you might have heard and seen Shashi Kapoor play in Tum Bin Jaun Kaha?
4 / 10 |
The oldest version of this instrument can be traced back to Greece in 3rd century BC. The driving force behind the music in this usually massive instrument is wind. The smallest version usually has about 12 pipes going all the way up to one particular instrument in New Jersey which has more than 33,000 pipes and weighs 150 tonnes. These pipes have ‘stops’ on them which reduce the volume, and gives rise to the phrase ‘pulling out all the stops’. This can result in an ear-splitting 130 Db sound. What grand instrument is this you’d mostly see in cathedrals?
5 / 10 |
The name of this beautiful instrument comes from the latter part of the Italian term meaning ‘little violone’. It is one of the largest stringed instruments to be played with a bow and is used to produce the low end bass sounds in western classical music. Put to amazing use by Bach, this instrument is an integral member of all classical music. What instrument is this that players such as Yo-Yo Ma and Jacqueline du Pré have amazing videos of on Youtube?
6 / 10 |
The name of this western instrument comes from the German term for ‘a concord of sounds’ and is usually slung around the shoulder and played with both hands. Another version of this is kept on the ground and one hand is used to pump air in to the reeds. This gets its name from the Latin word meaning ‘joining or concord’. Both these instruments are quite popular in the Indian subcontinent movie music scene. What are these instruments?
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This instrument has two names. The first comes the Latin term for ‘musical’ and the latter comes from the fact that you play it by blowing into it. It is usually a small flat instrument that is tuned to individual pitches. R.D. Burman was an expert player and used it to great effect for a sequence in Ziddi where he mimics the sounds of a train and an ensuing chase. What are the two names of this instrument?
8 / 10 |
This instrument is said to have originated from the Caribbean and its name is supposed to have come from the Bantu word for an African stringed instrument. The main design of this instrument is the thin membrane stretched over a frame which forms a resonator giving this instrument its characteristic twangy sound. What instrument is this that caught the fancy of 90’s kids when the song ‘Cotton eye Joe’ by Rednex hit MTV?
9 / 10 |
This is a percussion instrument characterised by small metal jingles called ‘zills’, which are attached to the drum head. This instrument is usually played by either shaking the hand or tapping it against the palm. You can see them being played in many Bollywood movies including memorably in ‘Yamma Yamma’ from Shaan where the performers show off their percussion skills to an Indian version of Ernst Stavro Blofeld. What instrument is this?
10 / 10 |
This is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. Its name is the Latin word for ‘trumpet’ and first became part of the orchestra only recently in the 19th century. Its curvy build can trace its roots to the ‘serpent’, a snake-like shape, so that players had access to the holes. What instrument is this that composer John Williams puts to good use to introduce both sharks and spaceships in Spielberg movies?
