MusicQuizzer (musicquizzer) is a Python program that can help you prepare for any test that involves listening to excerpts of music pieces and answering multiple choice questions about them.
First, download and install Python 2.6.6 from here. Later versions of Python are unsupported on Mac OS X because pygame does not run on them.
Next, download and install pygame from here.
Finally,
download MusicQuizzer
and extract it wherever you want. To use, simply double-click on the
mac_osx.command
file inside (do not move or delete any of the other files).
First, download the installer for Python 2.7.1 from here. Use the default settings during installation.
Next, download and install pygame from here.
Finally,
download MusicQuizzer
and extract it wherever you want. To use, simply double-click on the
musicquizzer
file inside (do not move or delete any of the other files).
You should be on at least Python 2.7 (check with python --version
), assuming
you keep your operating system up-to-date. Install the latest versions of
pygame and tk with:
sudo apt-get install python-pygame python-tk
Finally,
download MusicQuizzer
and execute the program with python musicquizzer.py
from your terminal.
The first time you start the program, it will download all of the 25 necessary
(default) music pieces to the pieces
folder. This is a ~70 MB download.
MusicQuizzer will present you with an answer sheet, containing four or five
multiple choice questions per piece (which are, of course, randomized every
time you begin a new quiz). Press Start Quiz
to begin listening to the
excerpts. Each one is played for 30 seconds. You are then given five seconds of
rest, followed by the next piece. After all excerpts have been played, you
cannot re-listen to them. Press Submit Answers
to “hand in” your quiz and
view the results.
The music pieces are located in pieces/
, in .mp3
format. The file
config.cfg
contains the information for each excerpt, like so:
[10.mp3]
title: Der Erlkönig
composer: Franz Schubert
era: Romantic
genre: Lied
form: Through-composed
url: /music/10_The_Erlking_Erlkonig.mp3
The section’s header is the name of the file in pieces/
(or whatever
directory you have chosen), and the fields hold the information that
MusicQuizzer will use to generate questions. The exception is the url
field,
which is the direct URL (when combined with the base_url
setting in the
[general]
header) that MusicQuizzer will use to download the piece if
it does not have a file with that name.
Feel free to rename any of the pieces, delete them, add totally new ones, or change their information. This program is designed to be customizable.
In the config file, you can also change the length of time each excerpt is played for, the time between each excerpt, and other things. If an attribute is not defined for a certain piece, the quizzer will not ask the question in that excerpt, but the question will remain for other pieces.