Q 01/05

The word accordion comes from the German Akkord, meaning what?

A) Musical chord

B) Bellows

C) Squeeze

D) Harmony box

Answer · why

A) Musical chord

The 1829 Vienna patent was for an instrument that sounded 'automatically coupled chords on the bass side'.

Q 02/05

The accordion belongs to which family of instruments?

A) Idiophones

B) Free reed aerophones

C) Chordophones

D) Membranophones

Answer · why

B) Free reed aerophones

Sound is produced as bellows-driven air flows past a reed in a frame; harmonicas and concertinas are relatives.

Q 03/05

What is the oldest name for the accordion group, from Greek for 'harmonic, musical'?

A) Melodika

B) Organetto

C) Harmonika

D) Sinfonia

Answer · why

C) Harmonika

Native versions of the word accordion are now far more common.

Q 04/05

The accordion's basic form is believed to have been invented in 1822 in which city?

A) Vienna

B) Paris

C) London

D) Berlin

Answer · why

D) Berlin

Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann is usually credited, though a possibly earlier instrument turned up in 2006.

Q 05/05

Who patented an instrument called the accordion in Vienna in 1829?

A) Cyrill Demian

B) Charles Wheatstone

C) Matthias Hohner

D) Heinrich Band

Answer · why

A) Cyrill Demian

His instrument had only a left-hand buttonboard, with the right hand simply pumping air.