Name That Instrument! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Double Bass

The size of the double bass has also changed over the years, becoming smaller... and did you know that double bass music is written an octave higher than it sounds?! This means it is known as a 'transposing instrument'.

Answer: Oboe

Oboes (or similar) are very ancient instruments... in fact, there is a site in Scotland by the Forth River, where a wall painting created in 2 A.D. depicts a man playing one. By the sixteenth century Shawms (as they were then called) were identifiable as the precusors of the modern oboe.

Answer: Glockenspiel

A new form of glockenspiel called a tubophone has appeared, which is played via a keyboard rather than two hand-held hammers.
A xylophone looks similar to a glockenspiel but the bars are made of wood, not metal. A celesta is similar to a glockenspiel but has wooden resonators attached to the bars. A bellenspiel is entirely made up!

Answer: Trombone

The pistons are replaced by the sliding mechanism, which does exactly the same job of extending the length of tubing used to play a note and therefore making the note sound lower.

Answer: Clarinet

The poor clarinet was not included in classical orchestras on a regular basis until the 18th century. Mozart played an important role in making the clarinet popular, not only including it in his symphonies, but also writing a clarinet concerto and clarinet quintet.

Answer: Harp

The harp was popular in Victorian drawing rooms possibly due to its displaying of feminine arms in motion and the graceful body movements. The Victorians were not nearly as uptight as some history books would have you believe!

Answer: Timpani

The timpani, or kettle-drums, are the only drums from which a definite tone is possible (the tightening and loosening of the membrane will tune the drum before a performance). The 'stuff' on the ends of the drum sticks is varied, according to what kind of sound is required from each strike on the drum.

Answer: Violin

You will no doubt know that old violins were strung with cat gut... but did you know that modern violin strings tend to be steel or gut-covered steel? The bow is strung with horsehair. The Beethoven violin concerto is in my opinion one of the most wonderful pieces of music (classical or otherwise) ever written.

Answer: French Horn

The French horn evolved from the hunting horn. The horn family has evolved since those days of course, and the average length of a musical horn nowadays is eleven feet. That is to say there is eleven feet of tubing wrapped and wound into a compact space to form an instrument of some significant power.

Answer: Flute

Flutes orginially evolved into two branches, one end-blown and the other side-blown. Needless to say, in the modern orchestra, the side-blown flute is the one featured (in dictionaries now, the end-blown flutes tend to be classified under the recorder family).