Music Theory Quiz

Try out this Music Theory quiz to test your knowledge. Music Theory trivia explores the concepts musicians use to describe and organize sound, including scales, intervals, chords, meter, and musical form.

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15 questions

~3 min to finish

Easy to hard difficulty

490 pts max score

Question 1 · Medium · 20 pts
Which arrived on the scene first: rock and roll or hip-hop?
Question 2 · Hard · 40 pts
In serial technique, what is the name for a presentation of a tone row that runs from its last pitch class back to its first?
Question 3 · Hard · 40 pts
Which term names the operation in twelve-tone practice that flips every intervallic direction of a row while preserving interval sizes in opposite directions?
Question 4 · Hard · 40 pts
What early-20th-century compositional approach is defined by ordered use of all twelve pitch classes?
Question 5 · Hard · 40 pts
Which specialized tetrachord is defined by containing every interval class from 1 through 6 exactly once?
Question 6 · Hard · 40 pts
In Schenkerian analysis, what is the term for the fundamental descending line?
Question 7 · Hard · 40 pts
Name the Schenkerian bass concept built as a tonic-dominant-tonic arpeggiation.?
Question 8 · Hard · 40 pts
Which tuning system divides the octave into 12 equal logarithmic steps?
Question 9 · Hard · 40 pts
If a tuning method is generated by stacking pure perfect fifths, what system is being described?
Question 10 · Hard · 40 pts
What tuning approach bases intervals on simple whole-number frequency ratios?
Question 11 · Hard · 40 pts
What is the name of the small pitch discrepancy between a just major third and a Pythagorean major third?
Question 12 · Hard · 40 pts
Which 1725 treatise by Johann Joseph Fux codified species counterpoint?
Question 13 · Easy · 10 pts
What is another name for the treble clef?
Question 14 · Easy · 10 pts
The bass clef is also known by what letter name?
Question 15 · Easy · 10 pts
An authentic cadence most often moves from which chord to which chord?

Which arrived on the scene first: rock and roll or hip-hop?

In serial technique, what is the name for a presentation of a tone row that runs from its last pitch class back to its first?

Which term names the operation in twelve-tone practice that flips every intervallic direction of a row while preserving interval sizes in opposite directions?

What early-20th-century compositional approach is defined by ordered use of all twelve pitch classes?

Which specialized tetrachord is defined by containing every interval class from 1 through 6 exactly once?

In Schenkerian analysis, what is the term for the fundamental descending line?

Name the Schenkerian bass concept built as a tonic-dominant-tonic arpeggiation.?

Which tuning system divides the octave into 12 equal logarithmic steps?

If a tuning method is generated by stacking pure perfect fifths, what system is being described?

What tuning approach bases intervals on simple whole-number frequency ratios?

What is the name of the small pitch discrepancy between a just major third and a Pythagorean major third?

Which 1725 treatise by Johann Joseph Fux codified species counterpoint?

What is another name for the treble clef?

The bass clef is also known by what letter name?

An authentic cadence most often moves from which chord to which chord?