NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 2 The Sound of Music
NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Beehive Chapter 2 The Sound of Music are given below. This chapter contains many questions that are essential for exams. Our expert teachers answered all the questions with a detailed explanation that help students to complete their assignments and homework. We have also provided NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Chapter 2 The Sound of Music in PDF format so that you can download them for offline use.
The Sound of Music NCERT Questions and Answers
Part I
Evelyn Glennie
Thinking about the text
I. Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.
Question 1. How old was Evelyn when she went to the Royal Academy of Music?
Answer: Evelyn was seventeen years old when she went to the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Question 2. When was her deafness first noticed? When was it confirmed?
Answer: Her deafness was first noticed when she was just eight years old. It was confirmed by the time she was eleven.
II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (30–40 words).
Question 1. Who helped her to continue with music? What did he do and say?
Answer: Ron Forbes who was a percussionist, helped her to continue with music. He asked Evelyn not to listen through ears but to try to sense it some other way.
Question 2. Name the various places and causes for which Evelyn performs.
Answer: Evelyn, with a hectic international schedule, gives solo performances at regular concerts. Apart from these, she gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She also accords high priority to classes for young musicians.
III. Answer the question in two or three paragraphs (100–150 words).
Question 1. How does Evelyn hear music?
Answer: Evelyn heard music by sensing the notes in different parts of her body. When Ron Forbes tuned two drums to different notes and asked her to sense the sound without using her ears, she realized that she could feel the higher drum from the waist up and the lower drum from the waist down. She learnt how to open her mind and body to sounds and vibrations. It was sheer determination and hard work. When she played the xylophone, she could sense the sound passing up the stick into her fingertips. By leaning against the drums, she could feel the resonances flowing into her body. On a wooden platform, she removed her shoes so that the vibrations could pass through her bare feet and up her legs. She herself said that music poured in through every part of her body. It tingles in the skin, her cheekbones and even in her hair.
Part II
The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan
Thinking about the text
I. Tick the right answer.
1. The (shehnai, pungi ) was a ‘reeded noisemaker.’
2. (Bismillah Khan, A barber, Ali Bux) transformed the pungi into a shehnai.
3. Bismillah Khan’s paternal ancestors were (barbers, professional musicians).
4. Bismillah Khan learnt to play the shehnai from (Ali Bux, Paigambar Bux, Ustad Faiyaaz Khan).
5. Bismillah Khan’s first trip abroad was to (Afghanistan, U.S.A., Canada).
Answer:
Answer: 1. The pungi was a ‘reeded noisemaker.’
2. A barber transformed the pungi into a shehnai.
3. Bismillah Khan’s paternal ancestors were professional musicians.
4. Bismillah Khan learnt to play the shehnai from Ali Bux.
5. Bismillah Khan’s first trip abroad was to Afghanistan.
II. Find the words in the text which show Ustad Bismillah Khan’s feelings about the items listed below. Then mark a tick (✓) in the correct column. Discuss your answers in class.
III. Answer these questions in 30–40 words.
Question 1. Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi?
Answer: Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi because of the shrill unpleasant sound of the instrument.
Question 2. How is a shehnai different from a pungi?
Answer: Shehnai has a better tonal quality than pungi. It is a natural hollow stem pipe with holes on its body and is longer and broader than the pungi. Shehnai is, in a way, an improvement upon the pungi.
Question 3. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah Khan change this?
Answer: The shehnai was traditionally played in royal courts, temples and weddings. Ustaad Bismillah khan, an undisputed monarch of shehnai brought this instrument onto the classical stage.
Question 4. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?
Answer: Bismillah khan got his big break in 1938. The All India Radio opened in Lucknow and Bismillah khan played shehnai on radio. He soon became an often heard player on radio. He became the first Indian to greet the nation with his shehnai from the Red Fort on 15 August, 1947.
Question 5. Where did Bismillah Khan play the shehnai on 15 August 1947? Why was the event historic?
Answer: Bismillah Khan played the shehnai from the Red Fort on 15th August 1947. He was the first Indian to greet the nation with his Shehnai. The event was historic because that is the day when India got independence. Bismillah Khan played Raag Kafi to an audience that included Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Question 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 his country. He felt an unbreakable bond with his towns- Dumraon and Benaras, and with River Ganga.
Question 7. Find at least two instances in the text which tell you that Bismillah Khan loves India and Benaras.
Answer: The first instance is when he turned down his student’s offer to start a shehnai school in U.S.A. The second instance is when Khansaab was asked by Shekhar Gupta about moving to Pakistan during the partition, he said that he would never leave Benaras.