Where Did This Instrument Come From? The Origins of Musical Instruments Quiz
In which court was the piano born, why is the steelpan made from oil drums, and why is the theremin never touched? Test yourself on the stories of instruments from around the world in ten questions.
The sound of an instrument is often the end of a long journey: some were born in an Italian court, some on the streets of a Caribbean island, some inside a tree trunk hollowed out by termites. The history of musical instruments also tells the story of human migration and invention.
Ten questions, four options each. The answers are settled knowledge in music-history sources, and guessing is allowed.
Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the piano, was working for the Medici court in which city around 1700?
Who invented the theremin in 1920, the instrument played without touching it, just by moving the hands in the air?
Where does the saxophone get its name?
The didgeridoo of the Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia is traditionally made from what?
Where did the ukulele develop in the 1880s, from small string instruments brought by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira?
In which country was the steelpan, made from old oil drums, born in the 20th century?
In which city was the first patent taken out, in 1829, for an instrument called the "accordion"?
Where do the gourd-bodied, skin-covered instruments regarded as the banjo's ancestors come from?
The cajรณn, a wooden box drum played by sitting on it and striking it, was declared national heritage of which country in 2001?
What material is the ney traditionally made from?
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