Megan Moran

Music quiz

Ready to test your ear for facts? These 20 music quiz questions roam across rock, pop, jazz, country and classical, plus the instruments that make it all happen, so this music trivia set has something for every era and every listener.

A free quiz from Megan Moran.

Paper-cut illustration of vinyl records, headphones and a vintage microphone with floating musical notes
Pick an answer to start20 to go

  1. Question 1 of 20InstrumentsEasy

    How many keys does a standard modern piano have?

  2. Question 2 of 20InstrumentsEasy

    How many strings does a standard violin have?

  3. Question 3 of 20ClassicalMedium

    In which city was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born in 1756?

  4. Question 4 of 20Rock and popEasy

    Who became the Beatles' drummer in August 1962?

  5. Question 5 of 20InstrumentsMedium

    Adolphe Sax, who patented the saxophone in 1846, came from which country?

  6. Question 6 of 20InstrumentsHard

    Which electronic instrument, invented in 1920, is played by moving the hands near two antennas without touching it?

  7. Question 7 of 20Rock and popMedium

    In which US city is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum?

  8. Question 8 of 20ClassicalEasy

    Which composer wrote The Four Seasons, a set of violin concertos?

  9. Question 9 of 20Rock and popMedium

    Which singer-songwriter won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016?

  10. Question 10 of 20InstrumentsHard

    In a symphony orchestra, which instrument traditionally plays the A that the other players tune to?

  11. Question 11 of 20Soul and R&BMedium

    Motown Records was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1959 in which city?

  12. Question 12 of 20Music basicsEasy

    How many lines make up a standard musical staff?

  13. Question 13 of 20Rock and popHard

    Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was born in 1946 on which island?

  14. Question 14 of 20Rock and popMedium

    Grunge music, made famous by bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, emerged from the music scene of which US city?

  15. Question 15 of 20ClassicalMedium

    Which composer wrote the ballet Swan Lake?

  16. Question 16 of 20ClassicalEasy

    Which German composer kept writing major works even after his hearing had badly deteriorated?

  17. Question 17 of 20InstrumentsHard

    Antonio Stradivari made his famous violins in which Italian city?

  18. Question 18 of 20Soul and R&BMedium

    Which country star wrote the song Whitney Houston took to No. 1 for 14 weeks with her version for The Bodyguard (1992)?

  19. Question 19 of 20JazzMedium

    Jazz great Louis Armstrong, nicknamed 'Satchmo', was famous for singing and playing which instrument?

  20. Question 20 of 20ClassicalHard

    Which composer's ballet The Rite of Spring caused an uproar at its 1913 Paris premiere?

Answer all 20 to see your score.

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Show all the answers, with the facts behind them
  1. How many keys does a standard modern piano have? 88That gives the instrument a range of just over seven octaves.
  2. How many strings does a standard violin have? 4They are tuned in fifths to G, D, A and E, making it the highest-pitched member of the violin family.
  3. In which city was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born in 1756? SalzburgHe was writing short pieces by age five and produced more than 800 works before dying at just 35.
  4. Who became the Beatles' drummer in August 1962? Ringo StarrBorn Richard Starkey, he had earlier played with the Liverpool group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
  5. Adolphe Sax, who patented the saxophone in 1846, came from which country? BelgiumHe was born in Dinant and also developed the saxhorn family of valved brass instruments.
  6. Which electronic instrument, invented in 1920, is played by moving the hands near two antennas without touching it? ThereminIt is named after its inventor, Leon Theremin, born Lev Termen, who developed it in Soviet Russia.
  7. In which US city is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum? ClevelandThe museum building was designed by architect I. M. Pei and opened in 1995.
  8. Which composer wrote The Four Seasons, a set of violin concertos? Antonio VivaldiThe concertos were published in Amsterdam in 1725, accompanied by sonnets describing what each season should evoke.
  9. Which singer-songwriter won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016? Bob DylanThe Swedish Academy honored him for creating new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.
  10. In a symphony orchestra, which instrument traditionally plays the A that the other players tune to? OboeIts bright, penetrating tone carries across the whole orchestra, and its pitch is hard to adjust on the spot, so everyone else tunes to it.
  11. Motown Records was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in 1959 in which city? DetroitGordy got started with an $800 loan from his family and turned a former photography studio into Hitsville U.S.A.
  12. How many lines make up a standard musical staff? 5Five-line staves appeared in Italy in the 13th century; Guido d'Arezzo's earlier four-line staff is still used for Gregorian chant.
  13. Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was born in 1946 on which island? ZanzibarBorn Farrokh Bulsara, he went to boarding school in Panchgani, near Bombay, India, from the age of eight.
  14. Grunge music, made famous by bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, emerged from the music scene of which US city? SeattleOriginally nicknamed the Seattle Sound, the scene was championed by the local independent label Sub Pop.
  15. Which composer wrote the ballet Swan Lake? Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyIt premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1877.
  16. Which German composer kept writing major works even after his hearing had badly deteriorated? Ludwig van BeethovenContrary to popular belief, he never became totally deaf; late in life he could still make out low tones and sudden loud sounds.
  17. Antonio Stradivari made his famous violins in which Italian city? CremonaHe is estimated to have made more than 1,100 instruments, and about 650 of them survive.
  18. Which country star wrote the song Whitney Houston took to No. 1 for 14 weeks with her version for The Bodyguard (1992)? Dolly PartonShe wrote it in 1973 as a farewell to her mentor and business partner, Porter Wagoner.
  19. Jazz great Louis Armstrong, nicknamed 'Satchmo', was famous for singing and playing which instrument? TrumpetBorn in New Orleans around 1901, he played the cornet early in his career before switching.
  20. Which composer's ballet The Rite of Spring caused an uproar at its 1913 Paris premiere? Igor StravinskyIt was staged by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky.
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