Orchestra Quiz

Music Quiz Questions

1. An orchestra is broken into how many familes of instruments?
2. Name the smallest member of the flute family?
3. The Halle is an English symphony orchestra based in which city?
4. Which English conductor is best known for his association with London's annual promenade concerts?
5. Which instrument is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family?
6. Which percussion instrument is composed of a set of tuned metal plates similar to the xylophone?





7. Is the 'celesta' a woodwind, brass, string, percussion or keyboard instrument?
8. The Metropolitan Opera, commonly referred to as 'The Met', is based in which city?
9. In which section of the orchestra does a cor anglais belong?
10. Which instrument plays the 'A' to which other musicians tune their instruments?
11. Which English conductor, best known for his association with the London Philharmonic, was the grandson of the founder of a famous pharmaceutical company?
12. Which Italian word meaning 'pinched' is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of an instrument?
13. Which instrument was first introduced into a symphony orchestra for Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in 1808?
14. By what name are the kettledrums more commonly known?
15. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in which city?
16. The second-most significant person in an orchestra after the conductor is the leader of the which section?
17. Which instrument did Bach, Mozart and Beethoven all occasionally play in an orchestra?
18. Which orchestra, founded in 1930, was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London?

Answers

1. Four (string, woodwind, brass and percussion)
2. Piccolo
3. Manchester
4. Sir Henry Wood
5. Tuba
6. Glockenspiel
7. Keyboard (looks similar to an upright piano)
8. New York
9. Woodwind
10. The oboe
11. Sir Thomas Beecham
12. Pizzicato
13. The trombone
14. Timpani
15. Amsterdam
16. First violin section
17. The viola
18. BBC Symphony Orchestra