United States Academic Decathlon® Music
______UNITED STATES ACADEMIC DECATHLON®
MUSIC
LEVEL TEST 1: EASY DIFFICULTY LEVEL
2016-2017 ______INSTRUCTIONS: On your answer sheet, mark the lettered space (a, b, c, d, or e) corresponding to the answer that BEST completes or answers each of the following test items. ______1. Powerful radio stations located in Mexico would play powerful broadcasts beyond the wattage allowed in the U.S.. These stations were known as “border blasters” or ______.
a. W-Rio Grandes b. X stations c. Watt farms d. Uber-stations e. Juarez Jams
2. Swing musician Artie Shaw and his entire big band enlisted in which branch of the U.S. military?
a. Army b. Marines c. Navy d. Coast Guard e. none of the above
3. Before film, America’s leading form of entertainment in America was ______.
a. radio b. vaudeville c. opera d. Broadway e. orchestras
4. Which of the following was the first swing band leader to use racially integrated ensembles?
a. Duke Ellington b. Glenn Miller c. Fletcher Henderson d. Benny Goodman e. Count Basie
5. In which family of instruments is sound generated by performers buzzing their lips?
a. Strings b. Brass c. Woodwind d. Percussion e. Keyboard
1 Music Level Test 1 6. Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, and Jimmy Dorsey were all in the pit ensemble for ______.
a. Oh, Kay! b. Show Boat c. Lady, Be Good! d. The Threepenny Opera e. Girl Crazy
7. RPM stands for ______.
a. revolutions per minute b. rotations per machine c. records per machine d. records per mix e. recordings per minute
8. ______commemorated Rodger Young, an individual war hero from a battle on the Solomon Islands, in a song by the same name.
a. Frank Loesser b. John Philip Sousa c. Oliver Wallace d. James Petrillo e. Robert Crawford
9. A(n) ______is a series of successive pitches perceived by the ear to form a coherent whole.
a. harmony b. contour c. melody d. timbre e. profile
10. According to singer Dinah Shore, which song of Johnny Mercer’s was one of the few funny songs to be sung frequently by the troops?
a. “Der Fuerher’s Face” b. “G.I. Jive” c. “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” d. “We Turned Our Darling’s Picture to the Wall” e. “What Did You Do in the Infantry?”
11. “Music for ______” was a Musicians’ Union slogan during World War II.
a. Bonds b. Troops c. Morale d. America e. Money
2 Music Level Test 1 12. The theatre district of New York City is called
a. SOHO b. West End c. Chelsea d. Broadway e. Greenwich Village
13. Despite the composer’s associations with Axis history, the New York Philharmonic continued with its planned ______Festival in 1942. However, the Metropolitan Opera canceled performances of Madama Butterfly for the duration of the war.
a. Beethoven b. Debussy c. Mozart d. Britten e. Stravinsky
14. Which of the following is another name for an overtone?
a. partial b. false tone c. fundamental d. clef e. accidental
15. One of the most successful postwar musical responses came in the form of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ______, based on a set of short stories by James Michener.
a. Oklahoma! b. Oh, Kay! c. South Pacific d. Our Singing Country e. Rodeo
16. Warner Brothers’ film ______predated The Jazz Singer in terms of using synchronized recorded sound, but it did not include any spoken lines.
a. Citizen Kane b. Bride of Frankenstein c. Holiday Inn d. Elevator to the Gallows e. Don Juan
17. The Threepenny Opera did not enjoy a successful run in the U.S. until after World War II. This work was written by
a. Richard Strauss b. Erich Korngold c. Kurt Weill d. Max Steiner e. Stefan Zweig
3 Music Level Test 1 18. Tessitura typically refers to a singer’s ______.
a. timbre b. register c. rhythm d. contour e. scale
19. Which concert-pianist, serving in military with the rank of lieutenant, surveyed the ongoing music-therapy programs in military hospitals and hospital ships, marking the beginning of the modern music therapy profession?
a. Sigmund Romberg b. Don Reid c. Charles Tobias d. Oliver Wallace e. Guy V.R. Marriner
20. During World War II, African Americans were not allowed to enlist in the ______.
a. Army b. Navy c. Coast Guard d. Marines e. Air Force
21. Throughout World War II, ______closed his or her weekly radio show by singing Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”
a. Bing Crosby b. Frank Loesser c. Kate Smith d. Morton Gould e. Benny Goodman
22. The cast of Irving Berlin’s ______included over 300 soldiers.
a. This is the Army b. On the Town c. Holiday Inn d. White Christmas e. Carmen Jones
23. The distance between C and the next higher or lower C is called an ______.
a. half step b. semitone c. whole step d. fifth e. octave
4 Music Level Test 1 24. Which of the following is a style of jazz known for its fast tempos and irregular phrases?
a. Swing b. Cool c. New Orleans d. Bebop e. Free
25. The actor/actress ______improvised the first spoken dialogue in a movie.
a. Orson Welles b. Al Jolson c. Irene Rich d. Kate Smith e. Conway Tearle
26. With the recording of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”, which musician or musical group first came to National attention in 1937?
a. Erich Korngold b. Bing Crosby c. The Andrews Sisters d. Kurt Weill e. Paul Hindemith
27. Music in groups of two beats is in what type of meter?
a. duple b. triple c. quadruple d. irregular e. mixed
28. ______composed A Survivor from Warsaw.
a. Olivier Messiaen b. Arnold Schoenberg c. Dimitri Shostakovich d. Benjamin Britten e. Erich Korngold
29. For most of the 1920s, which of the following was the single-largest employer of musicians in the United States?
a. orchestra b. church c. Broadway d. cinema e. radio
5 Music Level Test 1 30. “Old Sad Eyes” tells the story of a ______unhappiness as his or her soldier is serving overseas.
a. mother’s b. father’s c. sister’s d. brother’s e. dog’s
31. Blues form typically includes stanzas of how many measures?
a. four b. eight c. twelve d. sixteen e. thirty-two
32. The seventh note in an ascending major scale is called the ______.
a. super tonic b. mediant c. dominant d. sub-dominant e. leading tone
33. ______recorded “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” for the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis.
a. Bing Crosby b. Judy Garland c. The Andrews Sisters d. Ethel Merman e. Ella Mae Morse
34. Gilbert and Sullivan were famous writers of ____, which were especially popular in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
a. operettas b. musical comedies c. musicals d. operas e. variety shows
35. John Philip Sousa adapted an older song to the “U.S. Field Artillery,” which is now known as “______.”
a. Anchors Aweigh b. The Caisson Song c. The U.S. Army Song d. The Marines’ Hymn e. The Army Air Corps
6 Music Level Test 1 36. The Billboard published the “______” weekly to show which songs were the most-played on major radio networks.
a. Chart Toppers b. Line of Hits c. Hit Parade d. Chart Line e. American Bandstand
37. “Liturgie de Cristal” is a movement from ______.
a. War Requiem b. String Quartet 1931 c. Concerto for Orchestra d. Survivor from Warsaw e. Quartet for the End of Time
38. Humor that references current events is known as ______.
a. revue b. topical humor c. minstrelsy d. insult comedy e. vaudeville
39. ______compositions were set to be incinerated by Nazi forces because he was Jewish, but his publisher managed to secure the author’s works and mail them to the composer over time.
a. Kurt Weill’s b. Arnold Schoenberg’s c. Béla Bartók’s d. Paul Hindemith’s e. Erich Korngold’s
40. Music is notated on a five-line ______.
a. graph b. staff c. chart d. form e. grid
41. Which of Don Reid’s songs was the strongest selling tune commemorating the U.S.’s engagement in World War II?
a. “Remember Pearl Harbor” b. “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” c. “Fuzzy Wuzzy” d. “We Turned Our Darling’s Picture to the Wall” e. “Der Fuehrer’s Face”
7 Music Level Test 1 42. Rodgers and Hart were famous for their work in what genre?
a. Musical Theatre b. Opera c. Musical Comedy d. Vaudeville e. Operetta
43. Warner Brothers developed a sound synchronization technology called ______that aligned sound on wax discs with a projected movie.
a. Phonofilm b. Vitaphone c. Technisound d. Movietone e. Cinesound
44. Which of the following singers is NOT a “crooner?”
a. Frank Sinatra b. Dean Martin c. Perry Como d. Louis Armstrong e. Bing Crosby
45. The Music War Committee was supported by the ______, a Broadway service organization that provided a great deal of wartime support.
a. National Wartime Music Committee b. American Theater Wing c. Martial Music Fund d. Tonys Foundation e. Office of War Information
46. Major and minor keys that share the same seven pitches—and thereby the same key signature—are said to be ______.
a. parallel b. lydian c. sympathetic d. mixolydian e. relative
47. ______is the swing band leader who popularized “Moonlight Serenade” and “Chattanooga Choo- Choo.”
a. Duke Ellington b. Glenn Miller c. Fletcher Henderson d. Benny Goodman e. Count Basie
8 Music Level Test 1 48. In entertainment, the term “shorts” usually refers to short ______.
a. songs b. books c. plays d. games e. films
49. Oklahoma! was the first collaboration between ______.
a. Rodgers and Hammerstein II b. Bernstein and Sondheim c. Weber and Rice d. Gilbert and Sullivan e. Rodgers and Hart
50. Which of the following is a three-note group that is squeezed into the amount of time of two notes of the same value?
a. duplet b. duo c. trio d. triplet e. tuplet
9 Music Level Test 1