Smart Cookie Trivia

40 Music Trivia Questions and Answers (Easy to Hard)

Bands, composers, instruments, and a little music theory. These start easy and get harder as you go. Tap any question to reveal the answer and a quick fact.

1. 1Which band recorded "Hey Jude"?Answer

   The BeatlesReleased in 1968, it runs over seven minutes.

2. 2How many strings does a standard guitar have?Answer

   SixBass guitars usually have four.

3. 3Who is known as the "King of Pop"?Answer

   Michael JacksonHis album "Thriller" is widely cited as the best-selling album of all time.

4. 4Who is known as the "King of Rock and Roll"?Answer

   Elvis PresleyHis home, Graceland, is in Memphis, Tennessee.

5. 5Which composer wrote "Für Elise"?Answer

   Ludwig van BeethovenIt was published in 1867, forty years after his death.

6. 6How many keys does a standard piano have?Answer

   8852 are white and 36 are black.

7. 7Which instrument did Louis Armstrong famously play?Answer

   The trumpetHe was also known for his gravelly singing voice.

8. 8Which singer is known as the "Queen of Soul"?Answer

   Aretha FranklinIn 1987 she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

9. 9Which band released "Bohemian Rhapsody"?Answer

   QueenThe 1975 song was written by the band's singer, Freddie Mercury.

10. 10What do you call a group of four musicians?Answer

    A quartetFive is a quintet, and six is a sextet.

11. 11Which British band is fronted by Mick Jagger?Answer

    The Rolling StonesThe band formed in London in 1962.

12. 12What is the highest standard female singing voice?Answer

    SopranoFrom high to low, the main voices are soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.

13. 13Which large orchestral instrument has 47 strings and seven pedals?Answer

    The concert harpThe pedals change the pitch of the strings so it can play in any key.

14. 14Which country did ABBA come from?Answer

    SwedenThey won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with "Waterloo".

1. 15Which composer wrote the opera "The Magic Flute"?Answer

   Wolfgang Amadeus MozartIt premiered in 1791, the year he died.

2. 16Which genre of music is Bob Marley most associated with?Answer

   ReggaeThe genre developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.

3. 17Which composer wrote "The Four Seasons"?Answer

   Antonio VivaldiIt is a set of four violin concertos, one for each season.

4. 18Who was the lead singer of Nirvana?Answer

   Kurt CobainThe band's 1991 album "Nevermind" brought grunge to the mainstream.

5. 19Which musical term means gradually getting louder?Answer

   CrescendoThe opposite, getting gradually softer, is diminuendo or decrescendo.

6. 20Which rapper's real name is Marshall Mathers?Answer

   EminemHe grew up in and around Detroit.

7. 21Which Russian composer wrote the music for "The Nutcracker"?Answer

   Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyThe ballet premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892.

8. 22What was the name of Prince's 1984 album and film?Answer

   Purple RainThe soundtrack won him an Academy Award.

9. 23How many lines does a standard musical staff have?Answer

   FiveNotes sit on the lines and in the four spaces between them.

10. 24Which singer released the album "21"?Answer

    AdeleShe named it after her age when she wrote it.

11. 25Which city is widely considered the birthplace of jazz?Answer

    New OrleansJazz grew there in the early 20th century from blues, ragtime, and brass-band music.

12. 26Which Irish band recorded "With or Without You"?Answer

    U2It appeared on their 1987 album "The Joshua Tree".

13. 27Which composer wrote "Boléro"?Answer

    Maurice RavelIt repeats one melody over a steady snare-drum rhythm while growing louder.

14. 28Which guitar legend was left-handed but often played a right-handed guitar upside down?Answer

    Jimi HendrixHe restrung it so the low string stayed on top.

1. 29Whose ballet "The Rite of Spring" caused an uproar at its 1913 Paris premiere?Answer

   Igor StravinskyIts pounding rhythms and dissonance shocked the audience.

2. 30Which tempo marking means "at a walking pace"?Answer

   AndanteIt sits between slow adagio and moderate moderato.

3. 31Which instrument is Yo-Yo Ma famous for playing?Answer

   The celloHe has won more than a dozen Grammy Awards.

4. 32Which composer wrote the opera "Carmen"?Answer

   Georges BizetHe died three months after its 1875 premiere.

5. 33In which city did the Beatles form?Answer

   LiverpoolThey played hundreds of early shows at the city's Cavern Club.

6. 34Who composed "Rhapsody in Blue"?Answer

   George GershwinThe 1924 piece opens with a famous rising clarinet glissando.

7. 35Which German composer wrote the four-opera "Ring" cycle?Answer

   Richard WagnerPerformed in full, it lasts about 15 hours.

8. 36Which clef, also called the G clef, is used for higher-pitched music?Answer

   The treble clefIts curl circles the line for the G above middle C.

9. 37Which jazz saxophonist was nicknamed "Bird"?Answer

   Charlie ParkerHe was a founding figure of bebop in the 1940s.

10. 38Which singer was born Stefani Germanotta?Answer

    Lady GagaHer stage name is a nod to Queen's "Radio Ga Ga".

11. 39Which Baroque composer wrote the "Brandenburg Concertos"?Answer

    Johann Sebastian BachHe dedicated them to a German margrave in 1721.

12. 40Which Norwegian composer wrote "In the Hall of the Mountain King"?Answer

    Edvard GriegIt is part of his music for the play "Peer Gynt".