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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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 can not stay on pitch.
(c) Ryan gets a look of helplessness and fear when he hears a note coming out wrong.
(d) Ryan sings much too softly sometimes.

3. Why does Ryan initially start taking chorus class in high school?
(a) Ryan always loved singing, so it was a natural choice.
(b) Mrs. Hughes suggests it.
(c) His mother makes him take it.
(d) His football coach suggests it as an easy credit.

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

5. What is Ken Noda's ethnic background?
(a) Mexican.
(b) African American.
(c) Indian.
(d) Asian.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which family members of Ryan's were in the audience to hear him sing in his first opera a the Met on opening night?

2. What derogatory name did Ryan's classmates at school sometimes call him?

3. Which of the following songs does Ryan sing for his audition for the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts?

4. Who is the white student Ryan befriends in school and whose family Ryan spends a great deal of time with?

5. Who wrote the play The Emperor Jones?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 13, what does Ken Noda tell Ryan about how he will be judged as a singer because of his race?

2. Why does Mr. Brown experience conflicted feelings about religion?

3. Why is Ryan's family very surprised when they hear he is seriously interested in opera?

4. Why did the child piano prodigy Ken Noda abruptly stop performing piano concerts?

5. In Chapter 9, what effect does the black opera singer Eric Owens say race has on the career of opera singers?

6. In Chapter 11, how does Ryan's budding relationship with the red-headed soprano work out?

7. What does Brian Zeger, who runs the Met's training program, say is the real strength of Ryan's voice?

8. What happens to Ryan on the night of November 4, 2008, when Barack Obama is elected president?

9. What is the personal connection that helps Ryan get into the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts?

10. Why does it bother Ryan so much when people ask him to sing the song Ol' Man River?

(see the answer keys)

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