Music crossword puzzle

Twelve clues you can almost hear: strings, brass, a beat to tap your foot to and the tune you hum without noticing.

The grid and the clues

12 clues to solve: 4 across and 8 down.

Across

  • 2. A live show where musicians perform for an audience (7)
  • 4. Large group of musicians led by a conductor (9)
  • 8. The tune of a song, the part you hum (6)
  • 11. String instrument with six strings and frets (6)

Down

  • 1. Keyboard instrument with 88 keys (5)
  • 2. A group of singers performing together (5)
  • 3. Brass instrument with three valves (7)
  • 5. The person whose instrument is their own voice (6)
  • 6. The smallest string instrument in the orchestra, played with a bow (6)
  • 7. The pattern of beats you tap your foot to (6)
  • 9. You hit it with sticks to keep the beat (4)
  • 10. Do, re and mi are each one (4)

What is playing?

Five instruments, the people who sing and play them, the group that needs a conductor, and the building blocks every song shares. The clues describe each instrument by how it is built or played, its strings, valves or keys, so you can reason your way to answers you did not know you knew.

No sheet music required

Nothing here needs musical training: if you have ever clapped a rhythm or hummed a melody, you own every answer in this grid. The instrument names carry unusual letter patterns, which makes their crossings especially useful. Solve the nine-letter group first and half the grid opens up.

Print it

The free PDF puts the numbered grid and all twelve clues on one sheet; the completed grid waits in the separate answer key PDF. Print both, hand out one.

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