Master the Melody.

#21 Week 5

Author

Sigrun Sørumgård
January 29, 2025

From ancient sounds to modern tunes, how well do you know the instruments that shape our music?

  1. What small stringed instrument, similar to a guitar but with four nylon strings, originated in Portugal but became very popular in Hawaii?

  2. What is the name of the stringed instrument, originating in India, belonging to the lute family?

  3. Which ancient instrument, often depicted in Greek mythology, is a handheld harp-like instrument with strings stretched?

  4. Which keyboard string instrument, popular during the Baroque era, produces sound by plucking strings rather than striking them?

  5. Which string instrument, similar to a lute, has a rounded body and a very short neck and is commonly used in Middle Eastern music?

  6. Which brass instrument, smaller than a trumpet, has a more mellow tone and is often used in marching bands and brass ensembles?

  7. Which stringed instrument, originating in Russia, has a triangular body and usually three strings?

  8. What ancient wind instrument, often made of ceramic or clay, has a distinct oval shape with multiple finger holes and is famously associated with "The Legend of Zelda" video game series?

  9. What is the name of the instrument considered the precursor to the modern piano, invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in the early 1700s?

  10. Which percussion instrument, originating in Cuba, consists of two small, hollow drums joined together and played with the fingers?

The Wonder Wall

  • Your standard piano has 88 keys – 52 white and 36 black! An earlier version of the piano called the (answer to question 9) only had 60 keys. The modern 88-key piano was invented by piano manufacturer Steinway in the late 1800s. You can get some models with even more keys – one company sells 97-key pianos, where the extra keys are all black, and another made a world record in 2018 when they made a 108-key piano!

  • Bagpipes are most associated with Scotland – but they actually originated much further afield! In fact, there are records of bagpipe-like instruments in ancient Turkey and Greece, and also in the Roman Empire! In fact, some suggest that the instrument that Emperor Nero allegedly played while Rome burned was more like a bagpipe than a fiddle! Modern bagpipes seem to have originated in the 14th century, as their first clear mention came in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (written around 1380).

  • In 1995, scientists found what is thought to be the first-ever musical instrument! A bear femur – a thigh bone – was found in Slovenia during an archaeological dig and upon closer inspection, it had a series of holes like a recorder. Named the Divje Babe flute, it is over 60,000 years old.

Yesterday´s Questions & Answers

  1. What is the name of the dog, the somewhat stupid but good friend of Garfield?

    Odie, a yellow-furred, brown-eared dog described by Garfield to be a purebred clown and a dachshund.

  2. Snoopy is a spotted white Beagle, but what is the name of the character that is Snoopy´s owner?

    Charlie Brown

  3. In the movie Lady and the Tramp, we met Lady who is a purebred American Cocker Spaniel, and a mix breed stray mutt called Tramp. What year is the movie from?

    Lady and the Tramp was released to theaters on June 22, 1955.

  4. Spike and Tyke ("father and son") are dogs from the animated film series Tom and Jerry. What type of dog breed are Spike and Tyke?

    English bulldog

  5. What is the name of Tintin's dog?

    Snowy (French: Milou - named after Hergé's childhood sweetheart). It is a white terrier, who faithfully accompanies Tintin on all his adventures.

  6. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (also known as 101 Dalmatians) is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions, adapted from Dodie Smith's 1956 novel of the same name. It features Pongo and Perdita, two dalmatians who give birth to a litter of how many puppies, who are later kidnapped by the obsessive socialite Cruella de Vil, wanting to make their fur into coats.

    Fifteen puppies. Pongo and Perdita set out on a cross-country rescue mission to save the litter from the maniacal Cruella. They rescue 84 additional Dalmatians in the process, bringing the total to 101.

  7. Scooby Doo is a Great Dane and a big part of the Scooby-Doo gang, along with Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred. But what is the name of Scooby Doo´s nephew, who also is a Great Dane?

    Not as famous as his uncle Scooby, Scrappy Cornelius Doo was an addition to the Gang, using phrases like “Scrappy Dappy Doo", “Puppy Power” and "Lemme at 'em!"

  8. What breed of dog is Gromit, from Wallace and Gromit, supposed to be?

    Gromit is a beagle, with a cream-coloured short-hair coat and oversized floppy dark brown ears, who is Wallace's pet dog and best friend.

  9. What is the name of the two dogs associated with Mickey Mouse? One is Mickey Mouse´s dog, the other one his best friend.

    Pluto and Goofy. Pluto acts as Mickey Mouse's dog, but in some cases has acted together with Donald Duck. He was named Pluto in connection with the discovery of the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930, which was named after the Roman god Pluto. Goofy was in the early years known as Dippy Dawg, later Goofy, and has performed many times together with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

  10. The fictional white terrier dog that is a companion of Obelix in the Asterix comics is called Dogmatix in English, and is a pun on the words dogmatic. But what is his original name in French, which itself is a pun on a French expression?

    In the original French, his name is Idéfix, a pun on the French expression idée fixe (fixed idea) meaning an obsession.