instrument riddle
I have strings, but I’m not a guitar. I’m bowed and play high melodies. I rest on my shoulder and am often in orchestras.
What is a violin?
This part of the brain is primarily responsible for processing rhythm in music.
: What is the cerebellum?
This period (1600–1750) featured ornate music, basso continuo, and composers like Bach and Vivaldi.
What is the Baroque period?
This 1956 song by Elvis Presley was the first rock and roll record to top the Billboard pop charts.
What is "Heartbreak Hotel"?
This term refers to the highness or lowness of a sound.
What is pitch?
I’m made of brass and have three valves. I play bright, bold notes and march in parades. My cousin is the trombone, but I’m much shorter.
What is a trumpet?
This phenomenon occurs when a song gets stuck in your head and repeats involuntarily.
What is an earworm?
Known for balance, clarity, and form, this era included composers like Haydn, Mozart, and early Beethoven.
What is the Classical period?
This woman became the first female artist to win Album of the Year at the Grammys in 1964 for Judy at Carnegie Hall.
Who is Judy Garland?
the distance between two pitches, such as from C to G.
What is an interval?
I have 88 keys and black and white teeth. I can play melody and harmony all by myself. I’m in concert halls and living rooms alike.
What is a piano?
This therapy uses music to help patients with Parkinson’s, stroke recovery, or dementia improve movement and speech.
What is music therapy?
This period (1800–1910) emphasized emotion, dramatic contrasts, and larger orchestras—think Chopin and Tchaikovsky.
What is the Romantic period?
: In 1983, this was the first music video by a Black artist to be played regularly on MTV.
What is "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson?
A scale with eight notes, where the eighth note is an octave higher than the first.
What is a major scale?
I’m long and wooden, with a double reed that squawks. I play low in the orchestra and look like a big question mark.
What is a bassoon?
This brain wave pattern increases when people listen to music they enjoy, linked to pleasure and dopamine release.
What are theta waves? (Or: What is dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens?)
Music in this period rejected traditional tonality and embraced atonality, serialism, and experimental sounds—Schoenberg and Stravinsky were key figures.
What is the 20th Century (or Modern) period?
This 1977 album by the Bee Gees, featuring disco hits like "Stayin’ Alive," became the best-selling soundtrack of all time.
What is Saturday Night Fever?
The pattern of whole and half steps in a minor scale: W-H-W-W-H-W-W.
What is a natural minor scale?
I’m not a person, but I have a neck and a body. I’m strummed or picked and used in rock, country, and folk. I usually have six strings.
What is a guitar?
Children who receive music training often show improved skills in this area of cognition, involving memory for tasks and problem-solving.
What is executive function?
This early period (c. 500–1400) was dominated by monophonic sacred music like Gregorian Chant.
What is the Medieval period?
This American composer was the first to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1943 for Fanfare for the Common Man.
Who is Aaron Copland?
The symbol at the beginning of a staff that determines the pitch of the notes.
What is a clef?