How Music Actually Works

Arts and Music · 10 questions

Enjoying a song is easy; understanding why it hits is another matter.

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1. Which physical property determines whether a note sounds high or low?

   1. Amplitude
   2. Frequency
   3. Duration
   4. Timbre
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   B) Frequency

2. What lets us tell a violin from a flute playing exactly the same note?

   1. Timbre, the harmonic makeup
   2. The fundamental frequency
   3. The loudness in decibels
   4. The speed of playing
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   A) Timbre, the harmonic makeup

3. What happens to a note's frequency when you move up one octave?

   1. It halves
   2. It quadruples
   3. It doubles
   4. It stays the same
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   C) It doubles

4. What musical feature makes minor keys tend to sound sadder?

   1. A consistently slower tempo
   2. The use of fewer instruments
   3. A lower playing volume
   4. The smaller third interval
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   D) The smaller third interval

5. What is the name of the five-note scale that dominates blues and rock soloing?

   1. The pentatonic scale
   2. The chromatic scale
   3. The diatonic scale
   4. The whole tone scale
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   A) The pentatonic scale

6. Which instrument traditionally gives the tuning note to a symphony orchestra?

   1. The violin
   2. The oboe
   3. The piano
   4. The trumpet
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   B) The oboe

7. What is the pulsing you hear when two very close frequencies sound together?

   1. Resonance
   2. An echo
   3. The Doppler effect
   4. Beating
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   D) Beating

8. Pressing a piano key makes hammers strike the strings inside.

   1. True
   2. False
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   A) True

9. Human hearing spans roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.

   1. True
   2. False
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   A) True

10. Playing a song at a faster tempo also raises the pitch of its notes.

    1. True
    2. False
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    B) False