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Let's Talk Musical Sayings Trivia Quiz

You don't need to be musical or have any musical knowledge to do this quiz. These are everyday sayings that include a reference to something musical. Can you complete them?

A multiple-choice quiz by Toeknee448. Estimated time: 3 mins.

Author
Toeknee448

Time
3 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
361,584

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Easy

Avg Score
9 / 10

Plays
2107

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. When you need to make everyone know what you can do, what must you blow? Hint

A scarlet drum

Your nose

Your own trumpet

A loud hunting horn

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Question 2 of 10

2. Something trivial is on your mind and you want everyone to know, but when your friends get tired of you talking about it what advice might they give you? It relates to a large beautiful instrument. Hint

Not to make a song and dance about it

Not to be a whistle blower

To leave your drum at home

To stop harping on about it

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Question 3 of 10

3. You have been saying the same thing for a long while and everyone is tired of it. What do they tell you it is time to do? It is something they want you to do immediately with no preparation. Hint

Sing another song

Find another aria

Write a new ballad

Perform a new cantata

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Your neighbour might be over sixty but he is still as sound as what musical instrument? Hint

A bell

A trumpet

A cymbal

An organ

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Question 5 of 10

5. I'm thirsty. I think I will wet my _____. What very small sound-making gadget completes this saying? Hint

whistle

mouth

harp

teapot

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Question 6 of 10

6. What instrument is the Roman emperor, Nero, said to have played while the great fire of Rome burned? Hint

A guitar

A musical box

A xylophone

A fiddle

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Question 7 of 10

7. This item is cheap. What is it going for? Hint

A song

A cd

A book

A tattoo

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Question 8 of 10

8. The acrobats made their entrance to a clash of what? Hint

broken plates

cymbals

coloured clubs

arguments

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Question 9 of 10

9. What did the great god Pan invent, using the reeds by the river? Hint

A fish trap

An organ

Pipes

A basket

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Question 10 of 10

10. According to English Cockney rhyming slang, what is a whistle and flute? Hint

a drink

lunch box

a bicycle

a suit

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. When you need to make everyone know what you can do, what must you blow?

Answer: Your own trumpet

In days of old, important people had a trumpeter to announce their arrival. This saying is advising you that as you have no trumpeter, you must announce yourself.

Answer: To stop harping on about it

The probable meaning of this is that harp strings vibrate for long after they have been played and often need to be stopped with the hand. Your friends are saying they are tired of listening to you on this subject.

3. You have been saying the same thing for a long while and everyone is tired of it. What do they tell you it is time to do? It is something they want you to do immediately with no preparation.

Answer: Sing another song

Have you ever had a song that "Gets on your mind", repeating itself over and over in your brain? That is what your repeated talk feels like to your friends, so they want you to find a new subject to talk about.

4. Your neighbour might be over sixty but he is still as sound as what musical instrument?

Answer: A bell

There are other sayings about bells being cracked and they all remind one that a cracked, or unsound, bell is useless, harsh and unpleasant. Your neighbour is fit and well - as sound as a bell!

5. I'm thirsty. I think I will wet my _____. What very small sound-making gadget completes this saying?

Answer: whistle

A whistle, whether it be your mouth and throat or a mechanical device sounds best when it is moist, so to have a drink has become known as to wet one's whistle.

6. What instrument is the Roman emperor, Nero, said to have played while the great fire of Rome burned?

Answer: A fiddle

He didn't of course, because no one had invented fiddles in those days. He might have used a harp, but that is very unlikely.

7. This item is cheap. What is it going for?

Answer: A song

There is no definite source known for this saying, but a song is easy and cheap to use for entertainment. Beggars, for many centuries have been known to sing songs for donations, and that can be done with no teaching and no instrument to buy, so it is probably the cheapest possible impromptu entertainment for someone with no musical training and no capital of any kind.

8. The acrobats made their entrance to a clash of what?

Answer: cymbals

Cymbals rarely have a definite note and so are not fit for melody making. They can be used to make several kinds of crashing noise that calls attention or to perform a rhythmic pattern.

9. What did the great god Pan invent, using the reeds by the river?

Answer: Pipes

Pan pipes are a series of pipes, each of a different length and each playing a single, different note. The musician blows down one at a time in a pattern to play a melody. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a lovely poem that begins: "What was he doing, the great god Pan, Down in the reeds by the river?" which describes him making the first reed pipes.

10. According to English Cockney rhyming slang, what is a whistle and flute?

Answer: a suit

Whistle and flute obviously rhymes with suit, but it becomes much harder to understand if it is abbreviated, and you are asked "Do you like my new whistle?"

Source: Author Toeknee448

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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