Musical Instruments

Question: The saxophone is a popular jazz instrument, but what was its first use?

Answer: Antoine-Joseph Sax invented the saxophone for use in military bands and orchestras. Not long after its invention, the French army adopted it for its bands.

Question: Which of these instruments requires a reed in order to be played?

Answer: Reed instruments, such as clarinets, oboes, harmonicas, and bagpipes, produce sound when the player’s breath causes a thin strip of some material (usually cane or metal) to vibrate.

Question: The theremin belongs to this class of musical instruments:

Answer: The theremin, invented in 1920, was one of the world’s first electronic instruments. Pitch is controlled by moving one’s hands nearer to or farther from the device, without ever touching it.

Question: What is the word for a kind of stringed instrument?

Answer: A harp is a large triangular instrument with strings that the player plucks.

Question: How many pedals does a grand piano have?

Answer: The grand piano has three pedals. Two lift the felt dampers above the strings, while the left pedal shifts the keyboard and action sideways.

Question: Which of these is not a type of African drum?

Answer: "Timpani" is the Italian word for "drums." In English the term refers to orchestral kettledrums.

Question: What is the name for the end of a horn that projects the sound?

Answer: On most brass instruments, the musician blows into the mouthpiece and the sound comes out the opposite, flared end, known as the bell.