Free Music Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers - Oboe, Quartet, High Wood, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Simon, Parsifal,  Tijuana Brass, The Star-Spangled Banner, September Song, Georgia on My Mind

 

Music trivia quiz questions with answers about musical instruments, Frank Sinatra, September Song, Pearl Bailey and more!

Who were the famous musicians who made up the original Benny Goodman Swing Quartet?
A: Goodman (clarinet), Teddy Wilson (piano), Gene Krupa (drums) and Lionel Hampton  (vibraphone).

The name of what musical instrument is derived from a French term meaning  "high wood"?
A: The oboe. In French, "high wood" is hautbois--which the Italians transcribed into oboe.

What Beatles hits were on the first single recorded by the Fab Four on their apple label?
A: "Hey Jude" and "Revolution."

What famous singer, after receiving an honorary degree from Georgetown university, enrolled as a freshman and earned a B.A. in theology?
A: Pearl Bailey. She received her B.A. in 1985 after seven years as a part--time student.

What musical instrument did bandleader-trumpeter Herb Alpert play during his brief appearance in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 film spectacular The Ten Commandments?
A: A drum, which Alpert beats while Moses, played by Charlton Heston, strides down Mount Sinai with the commandments.

What country singer was given a part aw an extra in the 1973 film American Graffiti after she was spotted driving her mothers 1957 Chevy in Hollywood?
A: Wynonna Judd.

What did Frank Sinatra give forever-39 Jack Benny on his 80th birthday?
A: Two copies of the book Life Begins at Forty.

Who was the last act at the famous three-day Woodstock festival in 1969?
A: Jimi Hendrix, who performed "The Star-Spangled Banner."

What popular nursery rhyme provided Neil Simon with the title for his first play?
A: "Little Boy Blue" gave him the title for Come Blow Your Horn.

Kurt Weil wrote the music for "September Song." What famous American playwright wrote the lyrics?
A: Maxwell Anderson. "September Song" was in their 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday.

What famous opera is based on the search for the Holy Grail?
A: Parsifal, by Richard Wagner.

What famous American songwriter-entertainer recorded a song about Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte and his wife dancing to doo-wop?
A: Paul Simon. The song, "Rene and Georgette Magritte and Their Dog After the War," is on his 1983 album Hearts and Bones.

Why did musician Herb Alpert, founder of the Tijuana Brass, name his son Dore?
A: The name contains the first two notes of the musical scale, do and re.

What Grammy-winning 1959 hit--with music written by Hoagy Carmichael--is an official state song?
A: "Georgia on My Mind." The lyrics are by Stuart Gorrell.