MUSIC YEAR 9 test

Name _________________________________ Date: ______________

Answer all questions

A. Benjamin Britten wrote a piece of music for orchestra called “The Young Person’s
Guide to the Orchestra” in 1946 for an educational film called Instruments of the
Orchestra. He based his piece on a very old theme that he borrowed from an
earlier composer called PURCELL.

We hear this theme at the beginning of the piece that is played by the full orchestra.
Then, Britten gives us a brief tour of the four different sections of the orchestra that
play a variation of the theme. Listen carefully and write down in what order you hear each
of the four sections being introduced.

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

After the four sections have been introduced the full orchestra plays the theme again.
Now, Britten takes each section in turn and demonstrates the sound of each instrument as
they play a variation of the theme that was heard at the beginning. First it’s the
WOOODWIND section. Listen carefully and write down the order of the woodwind
instruments you can hear playing.

5. __________________& ___________________

6. ___________________

7. ___________________

8. ___________________

Next, Britten introduces us to the instruments of the STRINGS section. Listen carefully
and write down the order of the string instruments you can hear playing.

9. _________________________

10. ________________________
11. ________________________

12. ________________________

13. ________________________

It’s now the turn of the BRASS section of the orchestra to introduce themselves. Listen
carefully and write down the order of the brass instruments you can hear playing.

14. ______________________

15. _____________________

16. ___________________ & ____________________

The final section of the orchestra, the PERCUSSION section now demonstrates the
sounds of their instruments. Listen carefully and write down all of the percussion
instruments you can hear playing

17. ______________________

18. ______________________

19. ______________________

20. ______________________

21. ______________________

22. ______________________

23. _______________________

Once all the instruments of the orchestra have been introduced, Britten starts off a
fugue where all the instruments enter one after each other overlapping. They enter in the
same order as they were introduced earlier in the piece. The music becomes more exciting
and the TEXTURE becomes thicker and thicker as more and more instruments join in. At
the end of the piece the theme returns majestically played by the brass section before an
exciting and triumphal ending.

B.You will hear three extracts from Concertos. These extracts are from different time
periods. Each extract will be played two times. Tick FOUR musical features which you
 can hear in the music for each Concerto extract. You may use some of the musical
features more than once.

Musical Features Extract 1 Extract 2 Extract 3

Concerto Grosso
Solo Concerto
Solo Piano with Orchestra
Solo Cello with Orchestra
Ripieno section of solo violin and
two recorders
Very fast, showy scale passages
Continuo
Entrance of the soloist is delayed
Taken from a fast movement
Taken from a slow movement

C. You will hear this extract played three times. A score of the main melody is printed
below.

1. How many beats to each bar are there is this music? ____________________ [2]
2. Which instruments make up the Concertante group in this Concerto
______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________ [3]
3. In which bar are the Concertante instruments first heard playing alone?
_________ [1]
4. In which bar does the Ripieno group join in again? ______________________ [1]
5. Which instruments play the Continuo part? ___________________________ [2]
 6. What name is given to this type of Baroque Concerto?____________________ [1]
7. Suggest a suitable venue for a performance of this piece__________________ [1]
8. Suggest a suitable composer of this piece_____________________________ [1]
9. What are the first 2 notes of the extract? _________________________ [2]
D. You will hear this extract played three times. A skeleton score of the main melody
is printed below.

1. How many beats to each bar are there in this music?____________________ [2]
2. Suggest a dynamic marking for bar 1_______________ and another for bar 4.

_______________ [2]
3. For which solo instrument is this Concerto written ? ____________________ [1]
4. In which bar is this instrument first featured playing solo? _______________ [1]
5. What melodic device is heard in bars 15 and 16? _______________________ [1]
6. In which bar does the opening music return? ________________________ [1]
7. In which musical form would this fast movement of a Baroque Concerto most likely to have

been written in? _________________________________________ [1]