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Instruments and Instrument Families — HS Music practice questions

9 multiple-choice questions and 8 flashcards on Instruments and Instrument Families, about 6% of the HS Music bank. Every one carries a written rationale.

Written and maintained by the CoStudy team · last updated 2026-09-29 · how we write and review questions

What this chapter covers

Instruments and Instrument Families is one of 12 chapters in CoStudy's HS Music (General) bank, and it holds 9 of the bank's 150 multiple-choice questions — roughly 6% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.

Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.

Free Instruments and Instrument Families practice questions

4 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.

A triad is composed of:

  1. Two notes
  2. Three notes stacked in thirds (root, third, fifth)
  3. Four notes including a seventh
  4. Any three different notes

Answer: B — Three notes stacked in thirds (root, third, fifth)

Triads are three-note chords built in thirds — typically the root, third, and fifth of a scale.

Which instrument is NOT a member of the woodwind family?

  1. Oboe
  2. Bassoon
  3. French horn
  4. Clarinet

Answer: C — French horn

C) The French horn is a brass instrument (sound produced by lip vibration into a cup mouthpiece). A/B/D) All standard woodwinds.

Which dynamic marking indicates 'very loud'?

  1. p
  2. mp
  3. f
  4. ff

Answer: D — ff

Dynamics from softest to loudest: pp (very soft), p (soft), mp, mf, f, ff (very loud), with extremes like ppp/fff.

In standard orchestral seating, the first violins are typically positioned:

  1. Directly behind the conductor
  2. To the conductor's LEFT, at the front of the stage
  3. Behind the brass and percussion
  4. On a raised platform at the back

Answer: B — To the conductor's LEFT, at the front of the stage

B) First violins sit at the conductor's left front; the violas/seconds/cellos fan to the right. A/C/D) Don't match standard orchestra layout.

Instruments and Instrument Families flashcards

1 cards from the 8 in this chapter.

Orchestra families?

Strings (violin, viola, cello, bass), woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon), brass (trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba), percussion.

Practise the full chapter

These are a sample. The full Instruments and Instrument Families chapter runs 17 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.

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Other HS Music chapters

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