Lesson T4.1.1

T4.1.1 Tonalities Quiz: KS3 Music, Unit 4

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson T4.1.1, Tonalities: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Music (National Curriculum), Unit 4: Musical dimensions and devices, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is a tonality in music?

    • The loudness of a sound measured in decibels
    • The number of beats in a bar
    • The quality of a voice that distinguishes singers
    • Key centres and scales organised around a tonic

  2. What is the tonic of a key?

    • The highest note played in the piece
    • The home note that the key is built around
    • The note that appears the least often in the piece
    • The final note of the bass line only

  3. What does a major tonality usually sound like?

    • Bright and happy
    • Dark and mournful
    • Strange and atonal
    • Quiet and unpitched

  4. Which key signature does C minor have?

    • One sharp
    • No sharps or flats
    • Three sharps
    • Three flats

  5. What is modality in music?

    • Music based on modes with their own tone patterns
    • A tempo marking meaning moderate speed in the score
    • A form of music that has no fixed key or tonic
    • A type of notation that uses numbers only for pitch

  6. What is a mode, such as Dorian?

    • A chord with three notes stacked in thirds
    • An instrument family in the orchestra
    • A scale with a distinctive step pattern
    • A rhythmic pattern repeated across a bar

  7. What is atonality?

    • Music that uses only one note throughout
    • Music played without any instruments
    • Music played in every key at the same time
    • Music without a clear tonic or key centre

  8. Which key has one sharp in its key signature?

    • G major or E minor
    • B flat major or G minor
    • F major or D minor
    • C major or A minor

  9. A song is in E minor. Which note is the tonic?

    • B
    • E
    • A
    • G

  10. A piece starts and ends on D and uses only the notes of the D minor scale. What is its likely key?

    • D minor
    • D major
    • F major
    • A major

  11. A pianist plays a melody that repeatedly returns to C using mostly white keys. Which key is most likely?

    • C major
    • B flat major
    • C minor
    • F sharp major

  12. What is the relative minor of C major?

    • E minor
    • A minor
    • D minor
    • G minor

  13. A key signature has two sharps. Which major key is this?

    • D major
    • A major
    • G major
    • E major

  14. Which note is in G major but not in C major?

    • F natural
    • E flat
    • F sharp
    • B flat

  15. A piece moves from major to minor partway through. What effect is most likely?

    • A shift from brighter to darker mood
    • A change in tempo to a faster speed
    • A change in the loudness of the piece
    • A change in instrumentation only

  16. Which feature of a C major pentatonic scale does it avoid?

    • Every note played on the black keys
    • The second and third notes of the scale
    • The tonic and dominant notes of the scale
    • The fourth and seventh degrees, F and B

  17. Why might a composer choose a modal tonality?

    • To make the piece impossible to play on a keyboard
    • To remove the need for any tonic at all
    • A distinctive ancient or folk-like flavour
    • To guarantee the piece will end on a major chord

  18. A piece in D Dorian uses the notes D, E, F, G, A, B, C. What is the interval from D to F?

    • Tritone
    • Perfect fourth
    • Major third
    • Minor third

  19. Which key has the most flats among C major, G major, F major and B flat major?

    • B flat major
    • C major, with no sharps or flats
    • G major, with one sharp
    • F major, with one flat

  20. A piece in A minor raises the seventh note, G sharp, when moving to the tonic. What is this note called?

    • Leading note
    • Subdominant, the fourth note
    • Dominant, the fifth note
    • Supertonic, the second note

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