🍿 Trivia So you think you know Karen Carpenter?

Which one did you guys miss. I did stop for a second "What album inspired Karen Carpenter to play the drums?" Is that what got you?

Ed
 
10/10 - on Q6 I had to smile at the "Low Baritone" choice - the lowest part of her 3 octave range actually overlaps the upper part of the typical baritone range...
 
I missed the slightly confusing sixth question, "What was Karen Carpenter known for as a singer?" I knew she had a big range, but the "money's in the basement", so I chose the baritone answer. The phrase "low baritone" could be describing the fact that her lowest register is in the baritone range. I don't know anyone who praises Karen for the high notes she can reach, so I don't think she was "known" for that.
 
Of course, there's other perfectly legitimate answers to "What was Karen Carpenter known for as a singer?"

1. Beauty of tone
2. Clarity of intonation or articulation
3. Superhuman breath control
4. Emotional expressiveness
5. Ability to calm or soothe listeners
6. Inspiring many other singers
7. Capacity to make grown & grumpy men get weepy eyed & blubbery...
8. All of the above simultaneously...

Karen was very well known for "cruising in the basement" for certain, but nobody that I know of referred to it as singing like a low baritone - others may have made the connection but the first time I ever saw her vocal range associated with the word baritone was in a post of mine here somewhere back a little while when I showed a graphical display of the actual note overlap - I think she goes down 4 or 5 notes into the upper range of the typical baritone (to Eb below middle C). FYI - she reaches this at 2 places in "Where Do I Go From Here".
 
Last edited:
I missed the slightly confusing sixth question, "What was Karen Carpenter known for as a singer?" I knew she had a big range, but the "money's in the basement", so I chose the baritone answer. The phrase "low baritone" could be describing the fact that her lowest register is in the baritone range. I don't know anyone who praises Karen for the high notes she can reach, so I don't think she was "known" for that.
Same one that tripped me up too.
 
9/10. I actually, finally, learned something I didn't know (which album inspired her to play drums)! But when the results came back it said "Karen would be proud," so I'll take that!
 
9/10. I actually, finally, learned something I didn't know (which album inspired her to play drums)! But when the results came back it said "Karen would be proud," so I'll take that!
I think it was Randy Schmidt in "Little Girl Blue" who briefly discusses Karen (partly) learning to play drums by playing along with the rare, exotic rhythms laid down by Joe Morello of The Dave Brubeck Quartet, especially those on the very popular and ground-breaking 60s album "Time Out" - Joe became one of her favorites...one of her idols...check him at about the 4:40 mark on "Take Five" below (even Dave is captivated):

 
Last edited:
Question Ten asks, what year the solo album was finally released, and then states, "26 years after the final recording sessions of Karen Carpenter, the album was finally released in 1996 by A&M Records. Since the last recording took place in 1980, someone might want to check their math? :)

I also got two wrong, same one as Harry, (baritone) and the second, who inspired her to take up drumming. That one I had no idea.
 
I got 8 out of 10.... I missed the one on when her solo album was finally released, and I got tripped up on the "what we she best known for" question. There's another answer in there that's a bit misleading, but I won't go into detail here for those who haven't taken the quiz.
 
9/10. The same most got tripped up on. It was a hard choice of range or baritone. I chose baritone because it’s one of the reasons I became addicted to her once in a lifetime heart melting voice.
 
There is also a quiz about Carpenters, the band:


I got 9 out of 10 on this one....the music-lyrics question fouled me up!
I got 10/10 on this one! So, out of the two quizzes, I got a total of 19/20. That's 95%. That's an "A."
 
Back
Top Bottom