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Bassoon Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Bassoon Quizzes, Trivia

Bassoon Trivia

Bassoon Trivia Quizzes

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3 Bassoon quizzes and 25 Bassoon trivia questions.
1.
  Famous Bassoon Solos   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Bassoon solos show up everywhere from ballet to pop music. Take this quiz and see how many you recognize!
Average, 10 Qns, ertrum, Feb 07 17
Average
ertrum gold member
449 plays
2.
  Bassoon: The Clown of the Orchestra    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz is on the ever so awsome instrument called the bassoon and a lot of things about it.
Average, 10 Qns, bassoonist13, Apr 29 18
Average
bassoonist13
Apr 29 18
418 plays
3.
  The Bassoon    
Multiple Choice
 5 Qns
For all the crazy bassoonists in the world, and all the people who envy us!
Average, 5 Qns, ladymacb29, Dec 02 07
Average
ladymacb29 editor
767 plays

Bassoon Trivia Questions
1. Which ballet by Igor Stravinsky starts with a bassoon solo?

From Quiz Famous Bassoon Solos

Answer: The Rite of Spring

"The Rite of Spring" was very controversial at its debut in Paris in 1913. The performance was booed, and French composer Camille Saint-Saens was reputed to have left the premier of the ballet saying about the bassoon solo at the beginning "What instrument was that?"

2. The bassoon is a what?

From Quiz The Bassoon

Answer: Double reed

Yes, there are single reed mouthpieces for bassoons - but the bassoon IS a double reed instrument!

3. Paul Dukas wrote a short work which features a bassoon solo. Watchers of Walt Disney's 1940 film, "Fantasia" may recognize the solo from the scene in which Mickey Mouse battles armies of bucket-carrying broomsticks. What piece was this?

From Quiz Famous Bassoon Solos

Answer: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was written in 1897. Dukas took the theme of an apprentice sorcerer who overreaches his abilities from Goethe's 1797 poem of the same name.

4. Which finger uses the most keys on a standard bassoon?

From Quiz The Bassoon

Answer: Left thumb

My bassoon has about 10 keys for the left thumb. It was hard to figure it out when I started playing!

5. What well known bassoon piece was written by Paul Dukas?

From Quiz Bassoon: The Clown of the Orchestra

Answer: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was written by Paul Dukas and includes a large bassoon solo.

6. How many octaves is the bassoon's range?

From Quiz The Bassoon

Answer: 3.5

Got that info from www.classiccd.co.uk - I've never been able to get that many out of mine!

7. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote music for many different and unusual instruments. How many bassoon concertos did he write?

From Quiz Famous Bassoon Solos

Answer: one

Mozart's bassoon concerto, K 191, was written in 1774 when he was eighteen. It is believed that he may have written two more concerti, but they have not survived.

8. What pitch is the bassoon in?

From Quiz Bassoon: The Clown of the Orchestra

Answer: concert pitch

The bassoon is a concert pitch instrument along with the oboe, flute, and many other instruments.

9. What is the name of the curvey metal thing that the reed attaches to?

From Quiz The Bassoon

Answer: Bocal

A ligature is what is used on saxophones and clarinets.

10. What is another name for the bocal?

From Quiz Bassoon: The Clown of the Orchestra

Answer: the crook

The bocal is a curved piece on the bassoon that has the reed at the tip of it The bocal is also known as the crook, so when you hear the word crook in context with bassoons, they are talking about the bocal.

11. Peter Schickele, or his alter ego, PDQ Bach, was quite fond of bassoons. What is the title of his 1974 bassoon quartet, on themes by Richard Wagner?

From Quiz Famous Bassoon Solos

Answer: Last Tango in Bayreuth

"Last Tango in Bayreuth" appears on PDQ Bach's "Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion" CD. The eminently forgettable PDQ Bach was, as his biographer said, the last and least of JS Bach's many children. Among his other works, you may find the "Concerto for Horn and Hardart", the madrigal "My Bonny Lass, She Smelleth", and "The Abduction of Figaro".

12. "Tears of a Clown" may be unique in popular music - it may be the only US number one hit to feature a bassoon solo. Who wrote the words for this unusual hit?

From Quiz Famous Bassoon Solos

Answer: Smokey Robinson

The music for "Tears of a Clown" was written by Stevie Wonder. Smokey Robinson must have been fascinated by "Pagliacci" - he used the same line, "just like Pagliacci did/I'll keep my sadness hid", in "Tears of a Clown" and "My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)". The latter, however, doesn't feature a bassoon solo. So no wonder it didn't reach number one!

13. What does the whisper key do?

From Quiz Bassoon: The Clown of the Orchestra

Answer: it helps control the octave of a note

When you press down the whisper key, it helps control lower notes and keep them from going into the higher octave. When you leave it up, it becomes easier to let the high notes out.

14. Edvard Grieg wrote music for this famous play by Henrik Ibsen. The suite features a bassoon solo in "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Which play was the music written for?

From Quiz Famous Bassoon Solos

Answer: Peer Gynt

Grieg's music for "Peer Gynt" has been collected into two orchestral suites. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is the last section of the first suite.

15. What is the minimum number of keys and fingerholes on the bassoon?

From Quiz Bassoon: The Clown of the Orchestra

Answer: 23

The keys are, the low B flat key, the low B key, the low C key, the low D key, the pancake key, the B flat key, the F sharp key, the whisper key, the 3 keys above it, the F key, the alternate F sharp key, the A flat key, the low C sharp key, the E flat key, the G key, and the little key between the middle and ring fingers. The holes are E, D, C (which can also be a key), B, and A. That totals to 23.

16. For which television show was Charles Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" the theme?

From Quiz Famous Bassoon Solos

Answer: Alfred Hitchcock Presents

"Good evening" Gounod wrote "The Funeral March of a Marionette" in 1872. It was originally written for piano, and later scored for orchestra.

17. Find the odd one out.

From Quiz Bassoon: The Clown of the Orchestra

Answer: French horn

The double reeded instruments in the list are the bassoon, the contrabassoon, and the English horn. The French horn, however, is a brass instrument.

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