Education: Music competition winners and answers

THE Independent ran a competition over four Thursdays during February and March for readers to win various musical instruments and a workshop for their school, courtesy of Boosey & Hawkes. Runner-up prizes of the Classics for Children CD ( pounds 9.99, catalogue number DPCD1061) or double cassette ( pounds 6.99, CIMPC061) were supplied by Pickwick.

Questions were asked each week about different sections of the orchestra. The answers and winners are:

Week 1 (woodwind)

1. Name a work by Benjamin Britten specially written to be performed by children. Possible answers: The Little Sweep, Noye's Fludde, Friday Afternoons, St Nicholas, Psalm 150.

2. What is a berceuse? Answer: A cradle song or lullaby in lilting triple or compound time.

3. Which instrument features prominently in 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker? Answer: Celesta.

Winner of the Buffet flute: Miss J Smeethe, Nower Hill High School, Harrow.

Week 2 (brass)

1. Name Prokoviev's suite telling the story of a Russian soldier. Answer: Lieutenant Kije.

2. Name a ballet by Tchaikovsky, other than Nutcracker, that relates to a fairytale. Answer: Sleeping Beauty.

3. What was the American adaptation of a famous Bizet opera? Answer: Carmen Jones.

Winner of the Besson 600 cornet: Kate Hetherington, Margaret Beaufort School, Riseley, Bedfordshire.

Week 3 (strings)

1. For which solo voice did Benjamin Britten write much of his vocal music? Answer: Tenor.

2. What Bernstein musical is based on which Shakespeare play? Answer: West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet.

3. Which instrument is given the part of the swan in brass band/wind band arrangements of Carnival of the Animals? Answer: Euphonium.

Winner of the Andrew Schroeffer violin: Philippa Speirs, Deben High School, Felixstowe.

Week 4 (all three sections)

1. Where and when was Theobald Boehm born? Answer: Munich, 1794 (or 1793, depending on source).

2. What is the total length of tubing in a B flat cornet? a) 100cm; b) 133cm; c) 198cm. Answer: 133cm.

3. What are the two primary reasons for stringed instruments having sound posts? Answer: To send sound waves from the top to the back of the instrument; and to strengthen the area where the bridge is situated.

4. Name the famous orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle. Answer: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO).

Winner: Robert Evans, Hitchin Boys' School, Hertfordshire.

Runners-up: Farida Sakr, London; Kate Hawnt, Marden; Andrew Ormerod, Richmond; Anna Prowse, Loddiswell; Rachel Searle, Swansea; Alice Adamczewski, Lewes; William Holley, Cowbridge; Jane Aspden, Whitby; Vanessa Hill, Bradford; Rose Mary Buckler, Kendal; Rebecca Hughes, Hitchin; Leanne Hassan, Newport Pagnell; Ben Vaughan, London; Mary Houston, Grange-over-Sands; Lucy Mitchell, London; Sam Bullard, Colchester.