Music Theory Quiz

What does the word texture mean in music?

• Keeping a regular beat

• Using a limited number of instruments or voices

• The number of layers and relationship between layers in a piece

• Moving between different metres

What is an ostinato?

• A bass line that stays on one pitch

• A repeating pattern

• A long expressive melody

• The lowest part of the texture

What does diatonic mean?

• Using notes that belong to a particular key

• Using two tonic notes in a piece of music

• Layering a melody on top of chords

• Playing two different rhythms at the same time

What is phase shifting?

• Moving a melody up or down an octave

• Using groups of identical instruments to play a piece

• When two or more identical phrases move increasingly out of sync with one another

• When the melody moves from pitched to unpitched instruments

What is the name given to the first degree of the scale?

• Tonic

• Leading note

• Dominant

• Mediant

What does tempo mean?

• The number of beats in a bar

• The speed of the beat

• A clear steady pulse

• The length of a piece of music (counted in bars)

What is a motif?

• A short musical idea that recurs at different moments in a piece

• A form of notation

• A way of breaking up a chord pattern

• A written sign that tells you to repeat an idea

What is metre?

• The number of beats in a bar

• The speed of the beat

• A clear steady pulse

• The length of a piece of music (counted in bars)

What does timbre mean?

• The distinctive sound an instrument or voice has

• The layering of ideas one on top of another

• The number of players or singers in a performance

• There are percussions instruments in the piece

What is a pedal note?

• A sound an organ plays

• A bass line that mirrors and moves with the harmony

• A single pitch that is held or repeated while the harmony around it changes

• A sound that indicates a metric change in the music