Q.1
Music without instruments (or conventional singing voices) may seem an impossibility; but which of the following have been offered to the musical public in earlier generations?
  • Mendelssohn's Songs without Words ['how come?]
  • Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra ['wot, no soloist?']
  • Satie's Three Pieces in the form of a Pear ['what does a pear sound liike?']
  • All of these
Q.2
Apart from the format of its title, what is remarkable about John Cage's work ?
  • It consists entirely of silence
  • It can be performed without instruments
  • It can be performed by any number or configuration of musicians (choir, string quartet, symphony orchestra)
  • All of the above
Q.3
Ernst Toch, in the 1920s, wrote a for 4 voices: what is musically surprising about that work?
  • It is silent
  • It uses spoken voices and actual words, in rhythm, but there is no demarcation of pitch (and hence no 'tune' dimension to the piece)
  • The singers have to be in different, acoustically remote locations to perform it (so they can't hear one another)
  • The precise locations of all the singers have to be established on a map
Q.4
In the Alps there is a tradition of adding 'body music' to a dance ~ not 'just' tap- or clog-dancing. What is this called?
  • Laendler
  • Schuhplattler
  • Holdauer
  • Schlapps
Q.5
Which of the following is/are reasonably famous as music in which the singer/s perform to 'open vowels', creating a clear vocal tone but without the encumbrance of actual words?
  • Rachmaninov's Vocalise
  • The women's fade-out chorus at the end of the final movement of Holst's Planets Suite
  • Debussy's Nocturne No.3, Sirenes
  • All of the above
Q.6
In what form does an audience typically signal its approval of the sounds just made by musicians?
  • Clicking
  • Applause
  • Stamping
  • Whistling
Q.7
In the passage between about 0:30 and 1:00+ of the Meredith piece, how might we best describe the use of the voices?
  • All vowels and no consonants (like the Vocalise mentioned earlier)
  • All consonants and no vowels
  • The voices are silent, while other percussive noises are made using hands and/or feet
  • The voices are humming on a monotone
Q.8
If you heard the soundtrack between about 1:00 and just before 1:30, what might the sounds perhaps most likely remind you of in the real world?
  • A short ride in a fast machine
  • A steam train
  • 1 or more people cleaning a large institutional floor with squeezy mops
  • A shoal of fish
Q.9
Despite the lack of conventional pitch, which of the following standard features of 'mainstream music' is/are clearly present in this work?
  • Pulse, with variation and syncopation
  • Antiphony
  • Dynamics
  • All of the above
Q.10
Other composers have written numerous musical jokes and novelties, not least 'Papa' Haydn ('father' of the symphony and string quartet, among much else). Which of the following is NOT such a genuine work by him?
  • The oratorio Belshazzar's Feast in which the chorus shouts (rather than actually singing) the word telling us the king is 'slain'
  • The 'Joke' String Quartet in Eb., Op.33 no.2, with its sudden pauses to catch out people who might be talking instead of listening
  • The Surprise Symphony in which, after a quiet passage in the slow movement, a sudden full-orchestra chord would awaken anyone in the audience that might have dozed off
  • The Farewell Symphony in whose last movement the players leave the stage one by one, until only two violinists remain
0 h : 0 m : 1 s