This Art & Culture quiz on Musical Instruments and Artists puts 10 multiple-choice questions to you, the verified MCQs published with GK24's note on the topic. Every question carries a full explanation of why the correct option is right and why the other options are wrong, so you learn the fact behind the answer rather than the letter. Attempt it right after reading the note, keep to the timer, and use the explanations at the end to mark what needs another look. Sit it again before the exam as a quick revision of the topic.
10 questions with answers and explanations
In the classification given in the Natya Shastra, wind instruments are called by which name?
Sushira means hollow, and the class covers every instrument in which a column of air inside a tube is set vibrating.
Read the full explanation →Ustad Bismillah Khan is associated with which musical instrument?
Bismillah Khan played the shehnai, a double reed wind instrument long associated with weddings, temple processions and auspicious beginnings in north India, and he is credited with carrying it from ceremonial use onto the classical concert stage.
Read the full explanation →Pandit Shivkumar Sharma is known for playing which instrument?
The santoor is a trapezoid wooden box carrying many strings over small bridges, struck with a pair of light curved mallets.
Read the full explanation →Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is a celebrated player of which instrument?
The sarod is a plucked instrument with a metal fingerboard and no frets, which lets a player slide continuously between notes and gives it its deep, singing tone.
Read the full explanation →The ghatam, used in Carnatic music, belongs to which class of instruments?
The ghatam is a clay pot with nothing stretched across its mouth. The player strikes the body of the pot with fingers, palms and wrists, and changes the tone by moving the mouth of the pot against the stomach.
Read the full explanation →The chenda, a drum played during Kathakali performances and temple festivals, belongs to which state?
The chenda is a cylindrical drum hung from the shoulder and struck with curved sticks, and it carries the sound of Kerala's temple festivals, of the percussion ensemble called Chenda Melam, and of Kathakali and Theyyam.
Read the full explanation →Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is famous for playing which instrument?
The bansuri is the bamboo transverse flute, a sushira vadya with no reed, in which the player changes notes by covering the finger holes.
Read the full explanation →The ravanahatha, a bowed folk instrument, is associated mainly with which state?
The ravanahatha is an ancient spike fiddle with a coconut shell resonator, played with a horsehair bow that usually carries small bells, and it belongs to the folk musicians of Rajasthan, where it accompanies the ballad of Pabuji.
Read the full explanation →The nadaswaram, played at temples and weddings in south India, is traditionally accompanied by which drum?
The nadaswaram is a long double reed wind instrument, the loudest of the classical wind instruments, and in Tamil Nadu it is played as a pair with the thavil, a barrel drum struck with one hand and a stick, at temple processions and weddings.
Read the full explanation →Pandit Ravi Shankar, who received the Bharat Ratna, played which instrument?
Ravi Shankar played the sitar, the long-necked fretted instrument with a gourd resonator and sympathetic strings that ring on their own.
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