The Sound Of Music

2. The Sound of Music

Part I

Evelyn Glennie Listens to sound without hearing it

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 not even seventeen when she went to the Royal Academy of Music.

Question 2: When was her deafness first noticed? When was it confirmed?
Answer: Her deafness was noticed when she was eight-year-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 helped her to continue with music. He spotted her potential and said, “Don’t listen through your ears, try to sense it some other way.” He began by turning two large drums to different notes.

Question 2: Name the various places and causes for which Evelvn performs.

Answer: Evelyn performed free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She made music her life and performed many regular concerts.

(III) Answer these questions in two or three paragraphs (100-150 words).

Question 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 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 learned to open her body and mind to sounds and vibrations.

She 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.

Part II

The Shehnal 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 learned 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: (1) Pungi (2) A barber (3) Professional musician (4) Ali bux (5) 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.