CHAPTER 2 Sound of Music and the Poem Wind. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each. 1. How old was Evelyn when she went to the Royal Academy of Music? Answer. Evelyne was seventeen when she went to the Royal Academy of Music. 2. When was her deafness first noticed? When was it confirmed? Answer. Her deafness was first noticed when she was eight years old. It was confirmed when she was eleven years old. II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (30 40 words). 3. Who helped her to continue with music? What did he do and say? Answer. Evelyn s percussionist Ron Forbes spotted her potential in music. He tuned two large drums to different notes, and asked her to sense them in some other way. He helped her to open her mind and body to sounds and vibrations. (40 words) 4. Name the various places and causes for which Evelyn performs. Answer. Evelyn performs her regular concerts, and plays for the Royal Philharmonic Society. She gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She gives classes for young musicians. (26 words) III. Answer the question in two or three paragraphs (100 150 words). 5. How does Evelyn hear music? Answer. Evelyn had lost her hearing gradually. Till the age of eight she was able to hear all sounds and therefore, had become familiar with them. By the 10 x 10 Learning TM Page 1
age of eleven her loss of hearing was confirmed. But she did not want to give up music. Therefore, she worked hard on the advice that she had received about trying to hear, not through her ears, but in some other way. She began hearing music through the vibrations created by it. When two drums were tuned differently, she would hear the larger drum from her waist upwards, and the smaller drum from her waist downwards. When she was sixteen she could hear the vibrations of a train that was coming into the station. When she played the xylophone the vibrations would move through the playing sticks into her fingers and hands. PART 2 (140 words) 6. Answer these questions in 30 40 words. 1. Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi? Answer. Aurangzeb had banned the playing of the pungi because of the very shrill and unpleasant sound that it made. 2. How is a shehnai different from a pungi? Answer. Shehnai has a better tonal quality because it is made from a longer reed. Melody is produced by blowing air into the reed and controlling the amount of air escaping from the holes by placement of fingers. (37 words) 3. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah Khan change this? Answer. The Shehnai was played traditionally in the Vishnu temple of Benaras. Bismillah Khan extended it to the temple Balaji and Mangala Maiya and to the banks of the Ganga. He began to practice playing shehnai regularly on the banks of Ganga. ( 41 words) 10 x 10 Learning TM Page 2
4. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break? Answer. Bismillah Khan got his first big break in 1938 when began playing shenai for All India Radio in Lucknow, on a regular basis. 5. Where did Bismillah Khan play the shehnai on 15 August 1947? Why was the event historic? Answer. On 15 th August 1947, Bismillah Khan played the shehnai at Red Fort in the presence of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The event was historic because it was India s Independence Day and the first flag hoisting ceremony. (37 words) 6. Why did Bismillah Khan refuse to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A.? Answer. Bismillah Khan refused to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A. because he did not want to leave Benaras and Dumraon. He had grown up playing the shehnai on Ganga ghats. He did not want to change this routine. (39 words) 7. Find at least two instances in the text which tell you that Bismillah Khan loves India and Benaras. Answer. Ustad Bismillah Khan refused to settle in America to teach shehnai there. This showed his love for India. Secondly, when in Mumbai he yearned for the Ganga ghat where he practiced his shehnai. This showed his love for Benara. (39 words) WIND By Subramania Bharati 1. What are the things the wind does in the first stanza? 10 x 10 Learning TM Page 3
Answer. In the first stanza, the wind throws the books down from the shelf, tears the pages and scatters the papers and it brings rain. 2. Have you seen anybody winnow grain at home or in a paddy field? What is the word in your language for winnowing? What do people use for winnowing? (Give the words in your language, if you know them.) 3. What does the poet say the wind god winnows? Answer. According to the poet, the wind god winnows the weaklings. It crumbles frail houses, weak doors and rafters, weak wood, frail bodies and lives. It also crushes weak hearts. 4. What should we do to make friends with the wind? Answer. To make friends with the wind we should build strong homes, join the doors firmly, and make our body strong and firm. We have also to make our heart steadfast and resolute. 5. What do the last four lines of the poem mean to you? Answer. The last four lines are a metaphor. They mean that if our resolve to get independence is weak, it will not last long and the wind will blow it out just as it blows out small and weak fires. But if the same resolve is burning steadfast in the hearts of many Indians, it will be like a strong fire. The wind god makes strong fires to roar and flourish. In such situations the friendship of the wind god is good. For this strength we praise him daily. 6. How does the poet speak to the wind in anger or with humour? You must also have seen or heard of the wind crumbling lives. What is your response to this? Is it like the poet s? Answer. The poet speaks to the wind in humour as if it is playing a prank like a child by scattering his papers and dropping his books. Like a playful child the wind has brought the rain again, just as a child does what he / she is told not to do. In the reference to wind crumbling frail and weak things, the poet is appreciating and praising the wind. By the saying crumbling lives the poet personifies the wind as a powerful force, against which persons with frail 10 x 10 Learning TM Page 4
hearts cannot survive. The poet s reference here is to the difficulties one faces in life and particularly when one wants to achieve something great such as freedom. My response is similar to that of the poet. I agree that one has to be steadfast and stand resolute in one s life, to face all difficulties. We cannot let the winds of time crumble us like weaklings. (153 words) 10 x 10 Learning TM Page 5