THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Questions and Answers

Part I Evelyn Glennie Listens to Sound without Hearing It

1. When her deafness was first noticed? When was it confirmed?

Evelyn Glennie’s loss of hearing had been gradual. Her mother remembers noticing something was
wrong when she was eight years old and she didn’t hear her name being called at the piano class. At the
age of eleven it was confirmed that her hearing was severely impaired.

2. Who helped her to continue with music? What did he do and say?
Percussionist Ron Forbes spotted Evelyn’s potential and helped her to continue with music. He began by
tuning two large drums to different notes. He asked her not to listen to them through her ears but to try
and sense the sound in some other manner.

3. How does Evelyn hear music?

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 tingled in the skin, her cheekbones and even
in her hair.

Practice Questions-

I.Read the extract given and answer the following questions-

(i) But Evelyn was not going to give up. She was determined to lead a normal life and pursue her interest in
music. One day she noticed a girl playing the xylophone and decided that she wanted to play it too. Most of the
teachers discouraged her but percussionist Ron Forbes spotted her potential. He began by tuning two large
drums to different notes. ‘Don’t listen through your ears,’ he would say, ‘try to sense it some other way.’ Says
Evelyn, ‘Suddenly I realised I 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. had learnt to open my mind and body to sounds and vibrations.’ The rest was sheer
determination and hard work

Questions :

a. What had happened to Evelyn?

b. What was she determined to?

c. What did Evelyn discover, after Ron Forbes asked her to sense music through some other way ?
Answer the following question in short-

(ii) Why was Evelyn nervous while going to Royal Academy of Music?

(iii) What is Evelyn’s secret of success? What message does she give to achievers?

(iv) How did Evelyn succeed in pursuing her interest in music?

Part II - The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan

Questions and Answers

1. How is a shehnai different from a pungi?

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. It produces soft and melodious sounds.

2. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah Khan change this?

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.

3. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?

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.

4. Why did Bismillah Khan refuse to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A.?

Bismillah Khan refused one of his student's request to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A. because he would not live away
from Hindustan, specifically, from Benaras, the River Ganga and Dumraon.

Practice Questions-

1. Why did Emperor Aurangzeb ban the playing of Pungi in the royal residence?
2. How did ‘pungi’ transform into a Shehnai?
3. How was Bismillah Khan’s music recognized internationally?
4. Who inspired Bismillah Khan to play the shehnai and where?