DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, ELECTRONIC CITY

SUBJECT: ENGLISH
CLASS - IX TOPIC-THE SOUND OF MUSIC

REFERRAL NOTES

https://youtu.be/Fe7TD8uj7lw
https://youtu.be/c0yi0v9iQZg
Answer the following: (To be done in notebook)
Q1. Why was Evelyn “nervous yet excited” as she waited for the train?
Ans: While leaving for the Royal Academy of Music, Evelyn was excited despite her nervousness as going to
the Royal Academy of Music, London was a dream come true for her. She was going to join a three-year
course in an institute she had dreamed of joining. It excited her to think that despite her hearing impairment she
had made her way to such a prestigious institute.
Q2. “Everything suddenly looked black”. Why did Evelyn feel this way?
Ans: When Evelyn was advised to use hearing aids and join a school for the deaf, she felt that her future was
bleak and dark. She was depressed, as she felt she would not be able to lead a normal life nor pursue her
interest in music.
Q3. What did James Blades say about Evelyn’s music?
Ans: James Blades remarked that God may have taken away her sense of hearing, but He has given her
something extraordinary. What we hear, she feels, far more deeply than any of us. She is a talented musician
who expresses music so beautifully.
Q4. How is Evelyn a source of inspiration to people who are in any way disabled?
Ans: Evelyn’s achievements, gained through determination and hard work, are an example for other
handicapped people. They gain confidence from her example and believe that they too can achieve them goals
in life by overcoming their challenges and disabilities with firm determination.
Q5. How did the pungi come to be named ‘Shehnai’?
Ans. A barber from a family of professional musicians decided to improve the pungi. He chose a pipe with a
hollow stem that was longer and broader than the pungi. He played the instrument before the royalty, and
everyone was impressed. Since it was played by a barber. the instrument came to be named as ‘Shehnai.’
Short questions for reference only:
Q6. Where and how did Bismillah Khan begin his career in music?
Ans: Bismillah Khan began his career in music at the age of five by singing the Bhojpuri Chaita in the Bihariji
temple regularly in his native town Dumraon in Bihar. At the end of the song the local Maharaja would give
him a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg as a prize.
Q7. How do we know that the sound of Shehnai is considered auspicious?
Ans: Shehnai is played at the temple and marriage ceremony and another auspicious day, we can say the
sound of shehnai is auspicious.
Q8. Why did Bismillah Khan leave the glamour of the film world and return to Benares? What does this
tell you about him?
Ans: Bismillah Khan returned to Benares after providing music for two films – Vijay Bhatt’s Gunj Uthi
Shehnai and Vikram Srinivas’s Kannada venture, Sannadhi Apanna. This was because he disliked the
artificiality and glamour of the film world. He said, “I just can’t come to terms with the artificiality and
glamour of the film world.” This incident indicates that truthfulness and simplicity of Bismillah Khan’s
character.
Think and write :( To be practiced on own)
Q9. What important lesson does the life of Evelyn Glennie and Bismillah Khan teach us?
Q10. Why did Bismillah refuse to go to the U.S.A.?
Q11.Bismillah khan was the collection of his passion and the guidance of Ali Bux. Explain.
Q13. Ustad entered Pakistan but returned soon. Why?
Long questions for reference only.

1) How does Evelyn hear music?

Answer:
Evelyn became deaf by the time she was eleven. But she did not give up. She was determined to lead a normal
life and pursue her interest in music. Ron Forbes, a percussionist spotted her potential. He asked her not to listen
through ears but try to sense it in some other way. She realized she could feel the higher drum from the waist up
and the lower one from the waist down. Forbes repeated the exercise and soon Evelyn discovered that she could
sense certain notes in different parts of her body. She learnt to open her body and mind to sounds and vibrations.
She herself explained, “It pours in through every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my cheekbones and even
in my hair.” When she played on 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 the wooden floor she used
to remove her shoes so that the vibrations may pass through her bare feet and up her legs.

2) Why do you think Evelyn Glennie is inspiration to them who think life has no hope?
Answer:
Since her childhood she was deaf and faced more difficulties in proving herself and by luck got her mentor and
went on practicing the drum and felt the vibrations through her skin and later she became the famous xylophone
player in no time she scaled the height of success and name, and fame followed her after. She performed abroad
and became the international hit and while visiting to the handicapped schools the children felt happy there and
they seemed inspired as they could see their real inspiration before physically.

3) “There is always a teacher to bring out the latent potential of a pupil/’ Justify with
reference to the role played by Ron Forbes and Ali Baux in the lives of Evelyn Glennie and Bismillah
Khan. (100 words)
Answer:
Teachers craft us to become better individuals both personally and professionally. Ron Forbes understood
Evelyn’s passion for music. He taught Evelyn the nuances of hearing music not through her ears but through her
body. He taught her to feel the vibrations in her hands and parts of legs to get the pitch. So, he crafted her to be
more musical and confident.

Bismillah Khan’s teacher and mentor was his maternal uncle Ali Bux. Bismillah used to be transfixed when Ali
Bux used to play Shehnai. As a child, Bismillah used to accompany his Maternal uncle to Vishnu Temple of
Benares where Ali Bux was employed to play Shehnai.

Bismillah picked up the finer nuances of Shehnai and practiced for hours on the banks of the river Ganga. He
attained perfection only because of his uncle and mentor.
4) Give a brief character sketch of Ustad Bismillah Khan.
Answer:
Ustad Bismillah Khan was a Shehnai master of great national and international fame. He was a great musician.
Ali Bux, his maternal uncle, perfected him in music. Shehnai was brought to the classical stage by Ustad
Bismillah Khan. He practiced for hours and worked very hard to attain perfection. It was his melodious music
that made him the first Indian to greet entire independent India. Ustad Bismillah Khan created many new raags.
He was given many awards and he even received the “Bharat Ratna”. He was a true patriot who declined many
offers to settle abroad. He was a true artist but a simple man. He had great regard for Hindustani Classical Music.

5) How did the young Bismillah develop his interest in Shehnai?

Answer:
Bismillah was fascinated watching his uncle practice the Shehnai when he was only three.

He was deeply fascinated by the music of Shehnai. Soon Bismillah started accompanying his uncle Ali Bux, to
the Vishnu Temple of Benares where Bux was employed to play Shehnai. Bismillah picked up the finer nuances
of Shehnai and practiced for hours on the banks of river Ganga. The themes of his music were deeply affected
by the sounds of flowing water of the Ganga. At the age of 14, Bismillah accompanied his uncle to Allahabad
music conference where Ustad Fayaz Khan patted his shoulder which inspired and encouraged him to work
harder.

Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow: ( To be done in the notebook)

1. His first trip abroad was to Afghanistan where King Zahir Shah was so taken in by the maestro that he
gifted him priceless Persian carpets and other souvenirs. The King of Afghanistan is not the only one to
be fascinated with Bismillah’s music. Film director, Vijay Bhatt was so impressed after hearing
Bismillah play at a festival that he named a film Gunj Uthi Shehnai after the instrument.
a) Another word for ‘so taken in’ can be ………….
b) What did King Zahir Shah give Bismillah Khan?
c) The word in the above lines that denotes ‘a performer of classical music’ is ………….
d) Why did Film director Vijay Bhatt name his film ‘Goonj Uthi Shehnai’?
https://www.learncbse.in/ncert-solutions-for-class-9-english-beehive-the-sound-of-music/