Music Appreciation Flashcards
1
Q
Music can be defined as
A
An art based on the organization of sounds in time
2
Q
The four main properties of musical sounds are pitch, dynamics, tone color, and
A
Rhythm
3
Q
The relative highness or lowness of a sound is called
A
Dynamics
4
Q
In general, the smaller the vibrating element, the ______ its pitch
A
Lower
5
Q
The distance in pitch between any two tines is called
A
An interval
6
Q
If a pitch vibrates at 880 cycles, the octave below could vibrate at _____ cycles.
A
440
7
Q
The interval that occurs when two different tones blend so well when sounded together that they seem to merge into one tone, is called an
A
Octave
8
Q
The distance between the lowest and highest tones a voice or instrument can produce is called
A
Pitch Range
9
Q
Timbre is synonymous with
A
Tone Color
10
Q
When music is created at the same time as it is performed, it is said to be
A
Improvised
11
Q
The bow that string players usually use to produce sound on their instruments is a slightly curved stick strung tightly with
A
Horsehair
12
Q
The strings of a violin are tuned
A
By tightening or loosening the pegs
13
Q
Plucking the string with the finger instead of using the bow is called
A
Pizzicato
14
Q
Woodwind instruments are so named because they
A
were originally made of wood
15
Q
Which of the following is not a double-reed instrument?
A
Clarinet
16
Q
The vibrations of brass instruments come from
A
The musician’s lips
17
Q
A ____ is an apparatus that produces ticking sounds or flashes of light at bay desired musical speed
A
Metronome
18
Q
A ______ sign is used in musical notation to cancel a previous sharp or flat sign
A
Natural
19
Q
Western music uses ____ letters of the alphabet to indicate pitch
A
The first seven
20
Q
In musical notation, pitches are written on a set of five horizontal lines called a
A
Staff
21
Q
In musical notation, silence is indicated by
A
Rests
22
Q
A cadence is
A
A resting place at the end of a phrase
23
Q
A chord is a
A
Combination of three or more tones sounded at once
24
Q
The simplest, most basic chord used in western music is the
A
Triad
25
If a flute player were to play a solo without any other accompaniment, the texture would be
Monophonic
26
When two or more melodic lines of equal interest are performed simultaneously, the texture is
Polyphonic
27
In music, ____ refers to a characteristic way of using melody, rhythm, tone color, dynamics, harmony, texture, and form
Style
28
The word baroque has at various times meant all of the following except
Naturalistic
29
Baroque style flourished in music during the period
1600-1750
30
The two giants of baroque composition were George Frideric Handel and
Johann Sebastian Bach
31
Instrumental music became as important as vocal music for the first time in the _____ period.
Late Baroque
32
Affections in baroque usage refers to
Emotional states or moods of music
33
A baroque musical composition usually expresses _______ within the same movement.
One basic mood
34
The compelling drive and energy in baroque music are usually provided by
Repeated rhythmic patterns
35
Baroque melodies often are
Elaborate and ornamental
36
Melodic sequence refers to
The successive repetition of a musical idea at higher or lower pitches
37
Terraced dynamics refers to
The sudden alternation from one dynamic level to another
38
The main keyboard instruments of the baroque period were the organ and the
Harpsichord
39
A popular keyboard instrument in which sound was produced by means of brass blades striking the strings was the
Clavichord
40
The most characteristic feature of baroque music is its use if
Basso continuo
41
A bass part together with numbers that specify the chords to be played above is called
Figured bass
42
The orchestra evolved during the baroque period into a performing group based on instruments of the ____ family.
Violin
43
The music director of a baroque court usually not responsible for
Publicity in reaching an audience
44
The position of the composer during the baroque period was that of
A high-class servant with few personal rights
45
During the baroque period, ____ were not allowed to be employed as music directors
Women
46
Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 is unusual in that
has a harpsichord as a solo instrument
47
The main theme of a fugue is called the
Subject
48
When the subject of a fugue is presented in the dominant scale, it is called the
Answer
49
An ______ is a play, set to music, sung to orchestral accompaniment, with scenery, costumes, and action
Opera
50
The text, or book, of a musical dramatic work is called the
Libretto
51
A song for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment is called a/an
Aria
52
A(n) _____ is a musical number of two solo voices with orchestral accompaniment
Duet
53
A(n) ____ is an operatic number involving three or more leading singers
Ensemble
54
The ____ is the person who beats time, indicates expression, cues in musicians, and controls the balance among instruments and voices
Conductor
55
An_____ is an orchestral composition performed before the curtain rises on a dramatic work
Overture
56
The first opera house in Europe to offer entry to anyone with the price of admission opened in 1637 in
Venice
57
The earliest opera that has been preserved is Jacopo Peri's
Euridice
58
Castrati
All answers are correct
59
In the myth of Orpheus, Orpheus goes to Hades in the hope of bringing _______ back to life.
Eurydice
60
The respect given Henry Purcell by his fellow Englishmen is evidenced by his burial in
Westminster Abbey
61
Vivaldi spent most of his life working at na institution for orphaned and illegitimate girls in
Venice
62
Which of the following about Vivaldi's La Primavera (Spring) from The Four Seasons is true?
The piece is an example of program music
63
While at Leipzig, Bach
Taught organ and compositions, gave recitals, and was often asked to judge the constructions of organs
64
Bach was recognized as the most eminent _____ of his day
Organist
65
Bach's personal musical style was drawn from
All answers are correct
66
Sets of dance-inspired instrumental movements are called
Suites
67
A large-scale composition for chorus, vocal soloists, and orchestra, usually set to a narrative biblical text, is called a(n)
Oratorio
68
Oratorio differs from opera in that it has no
Acting, scenery, or costumes
69
George frideric Handel was born in 1685, the same year as
Johann Sebastian Bach
70
Handel spent the major portion of his life in
England
71
Handel's Messiah is an example
An oratorio
72
The phrase Middle Ages refers to the period of European history spanning
450-1450
73
The Renaissance may be described as an age of
All answers are correct
74
In the Middle Ages, most important musicians were
Priests
75
A virtual monopoly on learning during the Middle Ages was held by
Monks in monasteries
76
During the Middle Ages, what institution was the center of musical life?
The church
77
Church officials expected monks to sing
With proper pronunciation and tone quality
78
The church frowned on instruments because of their
Earlier role in pagan rites
79
The use of organs in church
Bothered the clergy because they distracted the listeners from worship
80
What we know about instruments in church comes mainly from
The pictures and literary descriptions of the day
81
Most medieval music was
Vocal
82
We know from paintings and literary descriptions of the Middle Ages that
Instruments were used
83
During the late Middle Ages, the church believed that music during religious services should be
Used only as a discrete accompaniment
84
Gregorian chant
Is monophonic in texture
85
Gregorian chant melodies tend to move
Stepwise within a narrow range of pitches
86
Gregorian chant is named after Pope Gregory I, who
Was credited by medieval legend with having created it
87
The two types of services at which monks and nuns sang were
The office and the mass
88
The highlight of the day for monks and nuns was
The mass
89
The earliest surviving chant manuscripts date about the _____ century
Ninth
90
The first large body of secular songs that survives in decipherable notation was composed
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
91
French secular songs of the Middle Ages dealt with all of the following subjects except
Religion
92
One function of secular music in the late Middle Ages was to provide accompaniment for
Dancing
93
An estampie is a medieval
Dance
94
The first steps in a revolution that eventually transformed western music began sometime between 700 and 900 with the
Addition of a second melodic line to Gregorian Chant
95
The center of polyphonic music in Europe after 1150 was
Paris
96
One of the major characteristics of ars nova music is its use of
Syncopation
97
A new system of music notation that allowed composers to specify almost any rhythmical pattern had evolved by the
Early fourteenth century
98
Guillaume de Machaut was a ______ as well as a musician
all answers are correct
99
The Renaissance in music occurred between
1450 and 1600
100
Classicism, as a stylistic period in western music, roughly encompassed the years
1750-1820
101
Which of the following statements is not true of the classical period?
Philosophers and writers in the classical period believed that custom and tradition, rather than reason, were the best guides to human contact
102
Which of the following characteristics is not typical of the music of the classical period?
Classical music is basically polyphonic
103
Which of the following statements is not true?
Composers in the classical period continued to use terraced dynamics in their compositions
104
The typical orchestra of the classical period consisted of
Strings, woodwinds, horns, trumpets, and timpani
105
Which of the following instruments were not normally included in the classical orchestra?
Trombones
106
Political and economic power shifted to the middle class from the aristocracy and the
Church
107
The prospering middle class in the classical period sought aristocratic luxuries such as
All answers are correct
108
Which of the following statements is not true?
Political and economic power shifted during the classical period from the middle class to the aristocracy and the church
109
Joseph Haydn was content to spend most of his life
Serving a wealthy aristocratic family
110
Haydn's contract of employment shows that he was considered
A skilled servant
111
Composers in the classical period took middle-class tastes into account by
All answers are correct
112
In the classical period, comic operas sometimes
Ridiculed the aristocracy
113
In Vienna, Haydn and Mozart
Became close friends
114
Short musical ideas or fragments of themes that are developed within a composition are called
Motives
115
The character of the minuet is best described as
Stately and dignified
116
In many of Beethoven's works, there is a _____ movement instead of the minuet.
Scherzo
117
The scherzo differs from the minuet in that it
Moves more quickly
118
Symphony may be defined as
All answers are correct
119
The unusual order of movements in a classical symphony is
Fast, slow, dance-related, fast
120
Which of the following is not true of the symphony?
It is a musical composition for solo instrument and orchestra
121
The lyrical slow movement of a symphony is most often the
Second
122
A concerto is a large-scale work in several movements for
An instrument soloist and orchestra
123
The classical concerto differs form the symphony in that it does not have a ______ movement
Minuet or scherzo
124
A classical concerto greatly relies in a soloist's
Virtuosity
125
A brilliant solo section in a concerto designed to display the performer's virtuosity is called
A cadenza
126
Classical chamber music is designed
For the intimate setting of a small room
127
The most important form of classical chamber music is the
String quartet
128
The string quartet
All answers are correct
129
A major factor that distinguishes chamber music form the symphony or concerto is that chamber music
Is performed by one player per part
130
Haydn was fortunate in having a long and fruitful, as well as financially stable, relationship with the noble Hungarian family of
Esterhazy
131
Which of the following was not one of Haydn's duties while in the service of the Esterhazys?
Writing a cantat each week for Sunday services
132
Although Haydn spent most of his time in Hungary, he often traveled to _____, where his music was performed often and greatly admired
London
133
Along with his symphonies, Haydn's _____ are considered his most important works
String quartets
134
Which of the following statements is not true?
In his later years, Mozart was financially well off, widely acclaimed, and sought after by an adoring public
135
Between the ages of six and fifteen, Mozart
Was continually on tour in England and Europe
136
Mozart tried to find fame and fortune by moving to ____, at the age of twenty-five
Vienna
137
Mozart composed his Requiem
On commission from a stranger
138
Don Giovanni, in Mozart's opera pf that name, is
The legendary Spanish lover
139
Mozart's Symphony No. 40
features and emotional intensity uncommon for the time
140
The Third Symphony of Beethoven was originally composed to commemorate the deeds of ____ as the embodiment of heroism and democratic ideal
Napoleon Bonaparte
141
Beethoven
All answers are correct
142
Which of the following statements is not true
Like Haydn and ,any other composers of the classical period, Beethoven depended on the aristocracy for his financial well-being
143
We have a record of Beethoven's struggle with his musical material because he
Showed his workflow in musical sketchbooks
144
Beethoven's sixteen ______ are generally considered among the greatest music ever composed
String quartets
145
Beethoven is often credited as being
The bridge between the classical and romantic periods
146
The opening motive of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 has a ____ rhythm.
short-short-short-long
147
Beethoven's only opera is entitled
Fidelio
