Classical
Movies
Video Games
Disney
Riffs, Licks & Motifs Oh My!
100





No!  It's not a piece of artillery! It's this piece...


What is Pachelbel's Canon?
100





"There's a storm blowin' up - a whopper, to speak in the vernacular of the peasantry."


What is The Wizard of Oz?
100





This game, praised at its release for its precise controls, is the second best-selling video game in the world.


What is Super Mario Brothers?
100





To appropriately portray the movement of this film's main character, animators watched videos of rap star M.C. Hammer. 


What is Aladdin?
100





Probably the most famous musical phrase by this composer; it was also used as propaganda during WWII because of its similarity to the Morse Code letter V.


Who is Ludwig Van Beethoven?
200




The Sonata quasi una fantasia became universally known as this five years after the composer's death.


What is the Moonlight Sonata?
200




"A pity they let the old punishments die. Was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming."


What is Harry Potter?
200





This game gets its name from its designers favorite sport and a Greek prefix.


What is Tetris?
200





This film was nominated for Best Picture, but lost to The Silence of the Lambs. It was, however, the first Best Picture nominee for Walt Disney Pictures since Mary Poppins.


What is Beauty and The Beast?
200




This song's iconic bass riff helped it reach number one in the USA and on the soul singles chart.


What is Superstition?
300




In recent years scholars have debated who this piece should be attributed to given a number of stylistic problems present that were rare for music of that period.


What is Toccata & Fugue?
300




"The only rules that really matter are these - what a man can do and what a man can't do."


What is The Pirates of the Caribbean?
300




This game's main character, one of the longest running video game franchises in history, has the highest brand awareness of any video game character - 94% of American consumers know him.


What is Pacman?
300





The theme song from this film was ranked #7 in the 2004 American Film Institute's List of the Top Movie Songs of All Time, the highest-ranking song on the list among Disney animated films. 


What is Pinocchio?
300




This cartoon's theme is most recognizable not for its lively melody, but for its syncopated bass line.


What is Peanuts?
400



The title for this piece is taken from Act III, Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Othello seen below:

"Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, th'ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, _____________ of glorious war!"

What is Pomp and Circumstance?
400




"I'll tell you what I'm talking about; I'm no girl, I'm a woman. Do you hear me? I'm not your wife or your mother... or even your mistress."


What is Nine To Five?
400




This game used dual worlds to create the perception that it was vast while conserving storage space by saving only the difference between the worlds, the theme for one of which is heard here.


What is Zelda?
400



Like many Walt Disney films, its premiere engagement was held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall.  However, at the end of the film's initial engagement there, all of the velvet seat upholstery had to be replaced. It seems that young children were so frightened by one of the sequences that they wet their pants at each and every showing of the film. 


What is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?
400





This movie's main character gives his name to its theme. It's distinctive motif is played in the blues key of his initial.


What is Beverly Hills Cop?
500




The third and most famous movement of Suite bergamasque is this meaning "moonlight" in French.


What is Clair de Lune?
500




"How extravagant you are, throwing away women like that. Someday they may be scarce."


What is Casablanca?
500




This game series, the most prolific for its company, was launched with a dud that did not justify a sequel. Its producer described the sequel's production as a rogue effort, with staff contributing their free time to it.


What is Mega Man?
500



This fable didn't become a film for 73 years.


What is The Jungle Book?
500





The opening bass part of this television show's theme is a tone painting of the credits' opening shot: its star working at a typewriter.


What is Murder, She Wrote?