Other Music Trivia

1. In 1943 people were annoyed by a novelty ditty that was hard to shut out. The song was called "Mairzy Doats". What does mairzy doats mean?

From Quiz Ohrwurm

Answer: Mares eat oats

Fortunately, the seemingly nonsense lyrics are translated in the song itself. The line "Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?" translates to "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"

From Quiz Leonard and Elmer, The Bernstein Broth***, OOOPS!

Answer: "Thoroughly Modern Millie" 1967, Elmer

The Academy must have had it in for Elmer, because in 50 years and over 100 movie scores, this was his only time holding the golden statue.

From Quiz Wind Band Composers and Literature

Answer: Percy Grainger

Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961) was born in Australia and lived in many places in the British Empire. He came to the United States in 1915 and soon became a naturalized citizen. He was a U.S. Army bandsman during World War I. Grainger was a folk song collector and showed remarkable innovation in scoring and rhythmic usage. He held the position of head of the music department at New York University for quite some time.

From Quiz Strange Musical Inspirations

Answer: The Rolling Stones.

The song was 'Too Much Blood' released by the Rolling Stones in 1983. The inspiration for the song is so bizarre as to seem unbelievable. Hartevelt was killed by fellow student, and Japanese national, Issei Sagawa. The French found him insane and did not try him for his crime. Instead, he was deported to Japan in 1985 where he was institutionalized for 15 months and then, on August 12, 1986 was released. Most reports claim that his father, a wealthy industrialist, was instrumental in both his deportation and release. Sagawa lives as a free man in Japan today where he enjoys status as a minor celebrity. He freely admits to and discusses his crime and has even written a book about it entitled 'In The Fog.'

From Quiz Sing Around the Campfire

Answer: On the way back down

"Ahead of me, I saw a tree, A great big tree, Oh glory be! The nearest branch, was ten feet up, I'd have to jump and trust to luck. And so I jumped, into the air, But I missed that branch, a way up there. Now don't you fret, now don't you frown, 'Cause I caught that branch, on the way back down." Used as a repeating song where the song leader sings a line and the group sings it back again, this song has been used from hikes, to chow line entertainment to campfires.

From Quiz Music Mix

Answer: Masses

Haydn wrote 13 masses, one without a number.

From Quiz Sacred Harp (shape-note) Singing

Answer: triangle, circle, square, diamond

Many different shaped note systems were invented in the 18th and 19th centuries to make sight-reading easier for singers. The four-note system used in the Sacred Harp is triangle (fa), circle (sol), square (la), diamond (mi). These shapes are certainly easier to print than one attempt at a shape note system that included shapes of flamingo, lizard, rat, snail and spider!

From Quiz Ohrwurm

Answer: In dreams

"I'll See You in My Dreams" has been recorded by diverse artists including Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Mario Lanza, Alice Faye, Doris Day, Django Reinhardt, and Bob Willes. If you have ever lost a loved one, this song will linger with you when you hear it. Perhaps one of the most endearing renditions was by the English singer Joe Brown at the concert to honor George Harrison in 2002. Brown was the closing act and brought down the house with this song played on his four stringed ukulele. He included the opening refrain that is often omitted in other recordings. "Lonely days are long Twilight sings a song All the happiness that used to be Soon my eyes will close Soon I'll find repose And in dreams You're always near to me I'll see you in my dreams Hold you in my dreams Someone took you right out of my arms Still I feel the thrill of your charms"

From Quiz Leonard and Elmer, The Bernstein Broth***, OOOPS!

Answer: "Saturday's Hero" ("Idols in the Dust")/"Far From Heaven"

Yes, "Robot Monster" and "Cat Women of the Moon" are real movies, both from 1953.

From Quiz Wind Band Composers and Literature

Answer: John Barnes Chance

John Barnes Chance was born in Beaumont, Texas, in 1932 and died from an accidental electrocution in August 1972 in Lexington, Kentucky. At the time of his death he was head of theory and composition at the University of Kentucky. He was awarded the ABA (American Bandmasters Association) Ostwald award for composition in 1966 for his "Variations on a Korean Folk Song".

From Quiz Sing Around the Campfire

Answer: Green

"Out of my window looking in the night, I can see the barges flickering light. Starboard shines green and port is glowing red, You can see them flickering far ahead." "Barges" can be sung in many different tones from loud and raucous to soft and slow, depending on the mood and the setting of the singing.

From Quiz Music Mix

Answer: Michael

Johann Michael Haydn was overshadowed by his older brother but was a wonderful composer in his own right. He was one of the first composers to write unaccompanied German part-songs for male chorus. Both were born in Rohrau, Austria.

From Quiz Leonard and Elmer, The Bernstein Broth***, OOOPS!

Answer: 9

This included a life time achievement award.

From Quiz Strange Musical Inspirations

Answer: Lynchings in the southern US.

'Strange Fruit' was written as a song of protest in 1938 by Lewis Alen. It refers to the still (at the time) not uncommon crime of the lynching of black people in the southern US.

From Quiz Sing Around the Campfire

Answer: A Round

Rounds have been sung for centuries. The first round most of us learn as children is "Row, Row, Row your boat."

From Quiz Music Mix

Answer: Oxford

It was called the "Oxford" symphony because it was played when Haydn received an honorary doctorate of music there.

From Quiz Sacred Harp (shape-note) Singing

Answer: fa, sol, la, fa, sol, la, mi, fa

The fa, sol, la, fa, sol, la, mi, fa was a simplification of the six- note ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la system invented in the 11th century. This simplification occurred in Elizabethan England, so American Sacred Harp singing is not the only tradition to use it. The fa, sol, la system makes it easier to learn the songs, especially because they are more suited to the harmonies used in the Sacred Harp than the modern do, re, mi system.

From Quiz Ohrwurm

Answer: Lush Life

When I first heard this song, I was fascinated with the lyrics so I made it a personal goal to memorize them. Through the years I find myself running the song through my head just to make sure I remember it correctly (or singing it if I'm alone). This composition works on two levels--the lyric and the jazz melody. "Lush Life" is too long to quote but here is a summary: The lyrics tell of the weariness of the night life after a failed romance, wasting time with "jazz and cocktails" at "come-what-may places" and in the company of girls with "sad and sullen gray faces/with distingué traces" and end with "I'll live a lush life in some small dive and there I'll be where I'll rot with the rest of those whose lives are lonely too." On the jazz side according to jazz expert Ted Gioia in 2011: "The song was written in the key of D-flat major. The melody is over relatively complex chord changes,... with chromatic movement and modulations, which evoke a dreamlike state and the dissolute spirit characteristic of the ... lush life".

From Quiz A Selection of Musical Insults

Answer: Johannes Brahms

During his extravagant diatribe against Brahms, Tchaikovsky delivered himself of a number of choice epithets - not all of them repeatable on a family website - of which "self-inflated mediocrity" is perhaps the most polite. I believe this was his idiosyncratic way of drawing attention to certain perceived defects in Brahms's powers of orchestration. But there was certainly a nationalistic tinge to Tchaikovsky's extravagant vituperation, as well as a musical one. German culture, and German habits of thinking and feeling, were never the flavour of the month in nineteenth-century Russia, even at times of political and military alliance - as anyone who has taken the trouble to read Tolstoy's "War and Peace" will know very well. Tolstoy's views on the great German composers were, on the whole, not exactly flattering either.

From Quiz Wind Band Composers and Literature

Answer: Frank Erickson

Frank Erickson (1923-1996) was born in Spokane, Washington. He composed nearly 100 works for band, many of which that were within the capabilities of the younger, less experienced musicians.

From Quiz Strange Musical Inspirations

Answer: Albert DeSalvo.

The inspiration for 'Midnight Rambler' was Albert DeSalvo, the self-confessed Boston Strangler. DeSalvo is alleged to have killed 13 women in the Boston area between June 1962 and January 1964. However, DeSalvo was never actually charged with being the Boston Strangler. He was, however, given a life sentence in 1967 for sex offences and robberies he had committed before the Boston Strangler murders. DeSalvo was found dead in his cell at Walpole State Prison, Mass., on November 26, 1973. He had been stabbed through the heart. Many forensic investigators are of the opinion that DeSalvo was not the Strangler.

From Quiz Sing Around the Campfire

Answer: A knapsack

"I love to go a-wandering, Along the mountain track, And as I go, I love to sing, My knapsack on my back." This common hiking song is often sang at a campfire after a long day on the trail.

From Quiz Sacred Harp (shape-note) Singing

Answer: Anyone is welcome to lead the singing

At most Sacred Harp Singings, including two- and three-day conventions, everyone is welcome to lead a song (even if you've never led a song before!). When it's your turn to lead a song, you call out the number of the song you want to lead, stand in the middle of the square and beat time with your hand.

From Quiz Ohrwurm

Answer: Try a Little Tenderness

When I was in college under the GI Bill and some part time work, money was always short. My wife and I had two small children and we were often distressed. Once in a while she would sing these words to me: "She may be weary, women do get weary Wearing the same shabby dress And when she's weary, try a little tenderness" After which we would both laugh and the mood would be redirected. If you have ever lived in poverty, laughter is a way to cope.

From Quiz Leonard and Elmer, The Bernstein Broth***, OOOPS!

Answer: "The Man with the Golden Arm"/"Far From Heaven"

Forty-seven years between Oscar nominations, that has got to be a record. If anyone wants to use that in a movie trivia quiz, feel free. Just verify that that is the longest span between a first and last nomination.

From Quiz Wind Band Composers and Literature

Answer: Claude T. Smith

Claude T. Smith (1932-1987) was born in Monroe City, Missouri. He was an active clinician as well as a composer and did much to advance the cause of band music. "Emperata Overture" (1964) was his first published work.

From Quiz Music Mix

Answer: Appassionata

The "Appassionata" is considered one of the two great piano sonatas of Beethoven.

From Quiz Leonard and Elmer, The Bernstein Broth***, OOOPS!

Answer: Young People's Concerts

Twenty-five of the fifty-three concerts were remastered and rereleased on DVD.

From Quiz Wind Band Composers and Literature

Answer: William Francis McBeth

William Francis McBeth was born in 1933 near Lubbock, Texas. He was chairman of the department of theory and composition at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas as well as resident composer. His music has enjoyed great popularity all over the world and especially in Japan. He is still an active guest conductor and clinician. (interesting to note that in 1962, McBeth was guest conductor for the Arkansas All State (high school) Band and that one young player in the tenor sax section was a future President of the United States--Bill Clinton).

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Last Updated Sep 13 2025 5:44 AM

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