Blue notes, perfect pitch, a prima vista? Throw in some of these expressions at your next date. Knowable stuff. Impressive too. See if you know all the answers to this challenging quiz?

1. The tonic of a scale is:

A. A drink you have at the bar

B. The stuff you use to unveil your natural beauty

C. The first note of the scale – so for the scale of C major it would be …

D. Always a bit off when you have an old piano

2. The difference between major and minor is:

A. Three little letters

B. The subject in which you specialize

C. Whether you can buy alcohol legally or not

D. That famous third, a major third makes it major, a flat third makes it minor

3. A blue note is:

A. A note that you sing when your lover has gone

B. A note you sing often when your pitch is flawed

C. A flat 3, a flat 5 and a flat 7 in a major scale

D. I didn’t know you can sing in colors?

4. Unisono is:

A. An animal that is extinct

B. Close friends with the unicorn

C. Japanese for one eyebrow for two eyes

D. All singers singing the same (series) of notes

5. How to find the augmented 4:

A. It’s an online game

B. A book about the adventures of 4 teenagers and a nuclear plant

C. Sing Bernstein’s “Maria”

D. It’s a friend of diminished 5

6. Chromatic means:

A. A disorder of your nervous system

B. Semitones played after another

C. A great way to make your bumpers shine

D. Greek for dishwasher

7. Perfect pitch means:

A. Your selling speech at a business event

B. A hole-in-one

C. Linguistics at University

D. You sing in tune perfectly

8. A prima vista means:

A. When it’s love at first sight

B. When you sing from a written notation with prior review of the material

C. When you sing from a written notation without prior review of the material

D. A singer’s nightmare

9. When we speak of bridge, we mean:

A. Don’t be ridiculous, of course I know what a bridge is

B. The parallel bridge for gymnastics

C. A card game for oldies

D. The passage connecting two sections in a composition

10. An arpeggio is:

A. A broken chord

B. A glued chord

C. A shattered chord

D. A shy chord

Solutions:

  1. C Yeah, yeah. Just warming up.
  2. D Always good to know
  3. C But then again, it could also be B
  4. D Of course
  5. C The first interval, yes
  6. B Just check if your date knows the meaning
  7. D Always a joy
  8. C and D…
  9. D I knew you knew it
  10. A Have you practiced your arpeggio’s yet?

How many did you get right this time?

1 – 6: Well, uhm… keep on practicing

7 – 9: I knew you had it in ya

10: You’re wonderful, you’re marvelous!