Time to turn those speakers up once more and find out how well you know some classic percussion instruments. Even if you think you’ve never heard of some of these, or don’t recognize them from the photos, you’ll still have fun guessing which sound goes to which instrument. You can find the new quiz here, and don’t forget to come back and let us know if it was too easy.
Comments (18)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
Rather easy, but sometimes it’s nice to know all the answers. :)
posted by Kristen on 7-12-2007 at 5:47 pm
That was an easy 100… good for the ego. It was also a good review of jr high band!
posted by Amy on 7-12-2007 at 5:53 pm
finally! my music performance degree is coming in handy! 100%!!!
posted by weeble warble on 7-13-2007 at 12:13 am
I need more Cow Bell!
posted by Jud on 7-13-2007 at 6:07 am
Jud:
I came here to say that…
posted by GT on 7-13-2007 at 7:28 am
I was wondering how long it would take before someone asked for a little more COW BELL!
posted by David on 7-13-2007 at 7:51 am
I’m a hornist, and I get seated in front of the percussion session A LOT… The only instrument I didn’t know by sight was the flexatone. The djembe and bongos were very similar… however, the sound you identified as a timpani sure sounds like a gong to me… With that, I got an 80.
posted by Karl on 7-13-2007 at 7:55 am
Sorry ’bout that Karl. It’s actually that famous bit in Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra. I couldn’t find a real good mp3 of the opening. If anyone has one, and wants to send me just the beginning, I’ll edit down to the timpani solo and replace the murky soundbite on the quiz now.
Thanks, David
posted by David on 7-13-2007 at 8:00 am
88%… mixed up the guiro (never knew the name of that thing) and the ratchet (which looks more like a garlic press). Never did band growing up, so I’m kind of proud of myself.
posted by Josh on 7-13-2007 at 9:03 am
88%, I mixed up the djembe and bongos. Not too shabby for someone that can barely play the kazoo.
posted by Shane on 7-13-2007 at 10:27 am
who would of thought… all those years in percussion stuck on the aux. instruments actually came in handy. i got 100 and learned names of some stuff like the fish is actually the guiro and the annoying thing is the ratchet
thanks
posted by ashley on 7-13-2007 at 11:40 am
88%. I switched the Tubular bells and the flexitone. (In my defense, I’m in orchestra, not band.)
posted by Pointy-Hatted Geek on 7-13-2007 at 12:00 pm
It is too easy.
posted by Wedge on 7-13-2007 at 2:49 pm
Considering I own half the instruments sampled and have played all of them I guess I should not say this was too easy. But it was.
posted by Cynthia on 7-14-2007 at 12:14 am
easy, but fun.
Yes, the timpani was recognizable as “Also Sprach Zarathustra”.
One tone on the tubular bells was tricky, but they look like wind chimes and the tone sounded like such too.
The djembe and bongos also sounded similar. I went for the bongos sounding like they had a tighter stretch across the sounding chamber. (Plus there dual tonality and the resonance should be a little different)
Fun. No real music background for me except listening.
posted by mungley on 7-14-2007 at 12:51 am
I take these sound bite quizzes with my husband and this was the first one on which I could hold my own. We easily got 100%. My husband says the guitar solo quiz was his favorite quiz ever, but he is a guitarist, so he would say that.
posted by Amanda on 7-14-2007 at 8:40 pm
I teach high school band. Thank God I got 100. Now let’s make it a real challenge…find some vague composition that no one has heard of but is written by a well-known composer and let people match them up :)
posted by Jacob on 7-14-2007 at 8:47 pm
As a timpanist in my high school band I have to ask, was that really the best timpani sample you could find? That was awful! I love my timpanis and will supply the internet with better timpani if that’s all that’s available…poor timpani-depraved world…
posted by Emilee on 7-16-2007 at 2:27 pm