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Drum Fill Friday: Classical Headbanging Edition

John Bonham of Led Zeppelin at the Los Angeles-area Inglewood Forum in 1973.
Jeffrey Mayer
/
WireImage
John Bonham of Led Zeppelin at the Los Angeles-area Inglewood Forum in 1973.

Sooner or later it had to happen — an all-classical Drum Fill Friday. This week's puzzler proves that the world of Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bartók can serve up beats as thunderous as any double drummer metal band.

Try to identify the classical pieces that spotlight the timpani (kettledrums), bass and snare drums. Score high and hurl your imaginary sticks into the roaring audience. Score low and kick yourself, not your bass drum.

While you might think that advertising a classical music quiz with a photo of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham is a mistake ... BOOM! You'll see why he's there in the very first question.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tom Huizenga is a producer for NPR Music. He contributes a wide range of stories about classical music to NPR's news programs and is the classical music reviewer for All Things Considered. He appears regularly on NPR Music podcasts and founded NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence in 2010.