Q.1
Which is the oldest type of keyboard-controlled musical instrument?
  • The piano
  • The harpsichord
  • The organ
  • The celesta
Q.2
How many keyboards are there on the biggest known organ ever built?
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Q.3
In broader terms of technical and cultural history, back from when can we date the piano (pianoforte) or its distinctive forerunner instruments, ONE of these statements is false : which one?
  • Shakespeare does not mention the piano, so it can't have been known as early as the start of the 17th century
  • Johann Sebastian Bach wrote plenty of keyboard music, but nothing entitled 'Piano Concerto' as such, so by the time of his death in 1750 it seems he'd never yet had the chance to try one
  • Bartolommeo Cristofori was developing what we now know as the earliest pianos, at the very end of the 17th century
  • The 'fortepiano' ('plays loud as well as gently'), with a range of five octaves or so ~ comparable to a modern organ keyboard ~ was available to composers of the 'first Viennese school' in the latter half of the 18th century
Q.4
There is a family of free-reed keyboard instruments that usually do not have piano-style keyboards (with their distinctive alternation of groups of 2 and 3 shorter black keys). Which of the following instruments does NOT belong in this 'other keyboard' category?
  • Accordion
  • Bandoneon
  • Concertina
  • Harmonium
Q.5
The phrase 'jack-in-the-box' refers to the technology of which historical keyboard instrument?
  • The hammered dulcimer
  • The organ
  • The fortepiano
  • The harpsichord
Q.6
Which composer/performer was known as 'the Poet of the Piano'?
  • Robert Schumann
  • Heinrich Heine
  • Frederic Chopin
  • Artur Rubinstein
Q.7
Most pianos have two pedals; some have three. What is the purpose of the middle pedal on a concert grand piano?
  • It mutes the strings
  • It sets the hammers to half-blow
  • It sustains only those notes which are currently being played, and thus have their dampers already raised
  • It makes the whole instrument louder
Q.8
If the stop-knob (or tablet) on a pipe organ is labelled 'Trumpet 8', presumably it will produce a sound resembling a trumpet; but what does the '8' mean?
  • The longest pipe in the manual rank (for bass C) has a sounding length of 8 feet; tenor C would be 4 feet and middle C, 2 feet; so this 'stop' will sound at the pitch you expect, i.e. a middle C as played will sound at middle C, rather than an octave up or down
  • In terms of how pungent the sound is, this is 8 on a scale out of 10; a flute-toned stop would probably only rank 2 or 3 points
  • This stop sounds best played in music that does not move more quickly than 8 quavers to the bar (such as many of the classic baroque Trumpet Tunes and Marches by Purcell, Stanley and others)
  • This rank balances best if you have 8 stops drawn altogether (i.e. fewer other stops will be drowned by it, and more would obscure its sound)
Q.9
Which of the following is the odd one out, in keyboard instrument technology terms?
  • Pallet
  • Spoon
  • Tracker
  • Sticker
Q.10
Which sparkling-toned acoustic keyboard instrument takes the solo in the from Tchaikovsky's ?
  • Glockenspiel
  • Celesta
  • Xylophone
  • Ondes Martenot
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