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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the kids on Ryan's bus say when they find out he is singing opera?
(a) That he is trying to act as if he is rich.
(b) That he is not tough.
(c) That he is trying to be white.
(d) That he should move away.

2. What famous song is Ryan often asked to sing that he hates singing?
(a) Ol' Man River.
(b) Someday.
(c) God Bless America.
(d) Love is a Wondrous Thing.

3. What is Ryan's reaction when the Governor's School principal phones to tell him he as been accepted?
(a) He is dumbfounded.
(b) He is angry.
(c) His is elated.
(d) He is suspicious.

4. Where did Mr. Brown take Ryan to buy clothes sometimes?
(a) Kmart.
(b) Lord and Taylor.
(c) Nordstrom's.
(d) Walmart.

5. Which television show does Ryan find solace and meaning in after he is released from the DeJarnette Center?
(a) Family Ties.
(b) ER.
(c) Seinfeld.
(d) The Wire.

6. What city was Ryan in on November 4, 2008, the night Barack Obama was elected president of the United States?
(a) Chicago, Illinois.
(b) Tallahassee, Florida.
(c) New York, New York.
(d) Washington, D.C.

7. What instrument does Zeger say Ryan has to make his voice more like?
(a) A trumpet.
(b) A piano.
(c) A harp.
(d) A tuba.

8. What does Ryan sometimes do when he gets a bad sinus infection?
(a) Use his very expensive humidifier.
(b) Visit an ENT specialist to get his sinuses suctioned out.
(c) Stay in bed for days at a time.
(d) Go to a doctor to get antibiotics.

9. What is the unique word Ryan's voice teacher uses to help him during his training?
(a) Poisement.
(b) Place-resonating.
(c) Place-inating.
(d) Spacement.

10. What is the name of the special trainee program at the Met that Ryan is invited to audition for after he is a winner of the young singers' competition?
(a) The Weinberg program.
(b) The LaBarre program.
(c) The Lindemann program.
(d) The Flament program.

11. What does Mark Oswald think is one of Ryan's problems when he sings?
(a) Ryan needs to be more physically animated when he sings.
(b) Ryan gets a look of helplessness and fear when he hears a note coming out wrong.
(c) Ryan sings much too softly sometimes.
(d) Ryan can not stay on pitch.

12. What happens when Ryan gets onstage for the first time in the Governor's School production of The Ballad of Baby Doe?
(a) He forgets his one line.
(b) He falls off the stage.
(c) He faints.
(d) He stuns the crowd with his amazing voice.

13. What famous legend did the story in Wanger's Parsifal draw on?
(a) Oedipus.
(b) King Arthur.
(c) Odysseus.
(d) Beowulf.

14. What does Ryan's friend's father remember Ryan leaving all around the house when he visited?
(a) Hairpins.
(b) Shoes.
(c) Food.
(d) Twisted-up napkins.

15. Who is the contemporary black male opera singer Bernger interviews who says being black is a disadvantage when working in opera?
(a) Paul Robeson.
(b) James Brown.
(c) Eric Owens.
(d) Philippe Sly.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ryan's voice teacher, Mark Oswald, ask him to do to help improve his sound in Chapter 14?

2. Why does Ryan stop seeing the red-headed girl he meets in the beginning of Chapter 11?

3. Where does Ryan attend graduate school?

4. Why do people sometimes have trouble classifying Ryan's voice?

5. Who is the principal of the Governor's School when Ryan auditions in Chapter 10?

(see the answer keys)

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