Q 01/05

Brass, the metal that gives trumpets and tubas their golden shine, is copper mixed with which other metal?

A) Tin

B) Zinc

C) Nickel

D) Lead

Answer · why

B) Zinc

Zinc usually makes up about a third of brass, with copper supplying the rest. Swap the zinc for tin and the result is bronze instead.

Q 02/05

Which instrument is made of brass yet counts as a woodwind because its sound comes from a reed?

A) Cor anglais

B) Clarinet

C) Saxophone

D) Bassoon

Answer · why

C) Saxophone

Saxophone bodies are brass, but a vibrating reed makes the sound, which puts them among the woodwinds. The reverse exists too: the wooden serpent coun...

Q 03/05

A silver trumpet and a bronze one, the oldest that still work, came from which pharaoh's tomb, discovered in 1922?

A) Tutankhamun

B) Ramesses II

C) Thutmose III

D) Akhenaten

Answer · why

A) Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun's trumpets had been silent for over 3,000 years when the BBC broadcast them live to an estimated 150 million listeners in 1939.

Q 04/05

In the Peanuts TV specials, the sound of a muted trombone stands in for the voices of which characters?

A) The pets

B) The toddlers

C) The birds

D) The adults

Answer · why

D) The adults

The adults were given trombone 'voices' at the suggestion of the specials' composer, Vince Guaraldi. The trick was first used in You're in Love, Charl...

Q 05/05

Which plastic horn's monotone drone became the soundtrack of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa?

A) Vuvuzela

B) Air horn

C) Kudu horn

D) Bullhorn

Answer · why

A) Vuvuzela

The vuvuzela is about 65 cm of moulded plastic that blares a single loud note. FIFA agreed to allow it in the stadiums in 2010 despite a wave of criti...