Musical Instruments Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The key gives Swami D.R. Parwatikar as the Dattatrya Veena player. Gopal Krishna, Matanga and Nanapanse are not given as players of this instrument in the key. This explanation follows the key.

Answer: D

The key gives Sarod as the instrument not played with a mizrab. The sitar and surbahar are plucked with a wire plectrum worn on the finger, the mizrab, while the sarod is played with a separate plectrum, the jawa, held in the hand. The guitar is also plucked with a pick, so the key's choice rests on the sarod being played with the jawa. This explanation follows the official key.

Answer: D

Masitkhani, Razakhani and Firozkhani are all baj (styles of playing) of the sitar named for sitar players, whereas Kirwani is the name of a raga, not a sitar baj. So the answer is Kirwani.

Answer: D

Jal tarang, a set of bowls filled with water and struck with sticks, belongs to the ghan vadya (solid percussion) category. Tat vadya means string instruments, sushir vadya means wind instruments and avanaddha vadya means drums with a membrane. The answer is Ghan Vadya.

Answer: A

The Daff is a frame drum with a single face, so it is not a two-faced Avanaddha vadya. The Dholak, Mridangam and Pakhawaj each have two playing faces. The answer is Daff.

Answer: C

The forerunner of the veena is the Yazh, the third option. The Yazh was an ancient stringed instrument of the Tamil country, often described as the harp-like ancestor of the veena.

The Ravanastram is a bowed instrument, the Dundubhi is a drum and the Bheri is a large drum. They are instruments of other classes (bowed and percussion), so they cannot be the forerunner of a plucked string instrument like the veena. The final answer key published by the University Grants Commission accepts this option alone, so the other three choices score nothing.

Answer: B

On a 36-inch stringed veena, the place of Sudh Dhaivat is given in the key as 21 1/3 inches, the second option. The question uses the traditional measures of fret positions on the veena.

The other options differ only in the fraction (1/2, 1/4 and 1/5). The key fixes the answer at the second, and the fractions are not interchangeable because each gives a different pitch.

Answer: C

The small (choti) chikari string of the sitar is tuned to the upper Sa (Sa with a dot above), the third option. The chikari strings give the rhythmic drone and are tuned to the tonic in the upper octave.

The plain Sa is the middle-octave note, the lower Sa (dot below) is in the mandra octave, and Pa is the fifth. They are not the tuning of the small chikari in the key. The chikari strings are struck together to give a rhythmic drone between phrases.

Answer: C

The correct matching is Jya with the ancient harp (4), Ravanastram with the bowed instrument (1), Kinnari with the veena (2), and Harmonium with the Yantra Vadya (3). That gives the code 4 1 2 3, the third option.

The Jya is the string of the ancient bow-harp, the Ravanastram is a bowed instrument, and the Kinnari is a kind of veena. The harmonium is a mechanical instrument and so is called Yantra Vadya. The other codes swap at least two of these.

Answer: A

The ancient name of the instrument Hudka was Aawaj, the first option.

Pushkar, Dundubhi and Dhansa are the names of other instruments. Pushkar is a general name for drums, so it is not the ancient name of the hudka in the key. The hudka (hudak) is a small hourglass drum of Uttarakhand, played with the hand, and the key gives its ancient name as Aawaj. The options are old names of instruments, which have to be learnt from the sources.