Q.1
How is the sound produced on a tam-tam?
  • By beating with the fingertips on the head of the instrument, which is like a small semi-tuned hand drum
  • By beating the large metal surface with a fabric- or leather-coated mallet, once or repeatedly, so that it vibrates like a great gong
  • By rattling it, so that loose pieces inside create a shimmering sound
  • By beating its two hollow sticks together to create a rhythmic clicking, vaguely reminiscent of the sound of tropical insects
Q.2
Sometimes, as in restaurants and other venues in central Europe, you may hear a folk band playing which includes a sound very like a piano, yet with no acoustic piano visible. The strings are being hit by hand (with felted hammers) rather than from the keyboard of a machine. What is the instrument in question?
  • Dulcimer
  • Zither
  • Lyre
  • Hurdy-gurdy
Q.3
On which form of percussion instrument might you find a snare?
  • Triangle
  • Cymbal
  • Side-drum
  • Timpani
Q.4
Composers of exotic and other operas have gone to ingenious, even gruesome lengths to specify the inclusion of not-conventionally-musical sounds in their works, often in an age before (and in some ways anticipating) films with soundtracks. Which of the following is NOT factual?
  • Verdi's Il Trovatore (1853) includes the famous Anvil Chorus
  • Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites (1956) focuses on a house of nuns during the French Revolution; when the nuns process offstage to their execution, the repeated sound of the guillotine is required to be heard through their choral hymn-singing
  • Leroy Anderson's many novelty compositions include Sandpaper Ballet, featuring the insistent rhythm of a sandblock from the percussion section
  • Johann Strauss in his Bahn Frei ('Way clear') polka requires the clatter, steam effects and whistle of an express railway train
Q.5
Which of the following is the odd one out?
  • Vibraphone
  • Glockenspiel
  • Marimba
  • Celesta
Q.6
Gerard Hoffnung, musician and humorist, organised a series of 'Hoffnung Music Festivals' in the 1950s which embraced music-making in a very broad sense, with liberal use of unconventional instrumentation, not least in the percussion section. Which of these was 'scored' at one time or another during the Festivals?
  • A coffee machine
  • Three vacuum cleaners &/or floor polishers
  • A dustbin full of broken glass &/or crockery
  • A (mechanical) typewriter
Q.7
Percussion instruments (after the human voice itself) are almost certainly the oldest category in terms of musical and technical history, and have grown up in all sorts of styles in different parts of the world, depending partly on what materials come to hand locally. Their distinctive contribution to a combination of sounds is almost an 'aural shorthand'. The use of castanets is usually evocative of what country?
  • Switzerland
  • Sweden
  • Spain
  • Slovenia
Q.8
Francis Poulenc wrote an unusual and memorably atmospheric concerto for Organ, Strings and ... ( ... which percussion instrument/s ?)
  • Tuned percussion (vibraphone, glock etc.)
  • Timpani
  • Drum kit
  • Cymbals
Q.9
Who was the zany bandleader that had so big a percussion section, that the whole outfit had its own special touring train to bring all the 'hardware' with it?
  • Duke Ellington
  • Spike Jones
  • Glenn Miller
  • Count Basie
Q.10
What kind of percussionists would perform 'off the table' or 'four-in-hand' music?
  • A temple-block consort
  • Handbell ringers
  • Vibraphone and marimba ensembles, where each player handles four sticks or mallets
  • Ringers of tuned cymbals
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