Q 01/05

How many keys does a standard modern piano have?

A) 22

B) 44

C) 88

D) 176

Answer · why

C) 88

88 keys, 52 white and 36 black. Early pianos had far fewer; makers kept widening the keyboard because composers asked for more range.

Q 02/05

Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano around 1700 while employed by the Medici as what?

A) Keeper of the Instruments

B) Court composer

C) Master of the Chapel

D) Royal organ builder

Answer · why

A) Keeper of the Instruments

Cristofori was Keeper of the Instruments for Prince Ferdinando de' Medici in Florence; his hammers struck the strings and fell back, letting the playe...

Q 03/05

Which piano maker's Imperial model has 97 keys instead of the usual number?

A) Steinway

B) Bösendorfer

C) Bechstein

D) Fazioli

Answer · why

B) Bösendorfer

Bösendorfer built the Imperial after pianist Ferruccio Busoni asked for extra bass notes to do justice to Bach's organ works; its 97 keys span a full ...

Q 04/05

The saxophone has a metal body, yet it belongs to which family of instruments?

A) Brass

B) Percussion

C) Woodwind

D) Keyboard

Answer · why

C) Woodwind

Woodwind: the sound comes from a single reed on the mouthpiece, and that, not the metal, decides the family. Adolphe Sax patented it in 1846, hoping t...

Q 05/05

Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone in France in 1846, but he came from which other country?

A) Switzerland

B) Germany

C) Austria

D) Belgium

Answer · why

D) Belgium

Belgium: Sax was born in Dinant in 1814 and is said to have survived so many childhood accidents that neighbours called him 'little Sax, the ghost'. H...