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2. The Sound of Music

Part I
Evelyn Glennie Listens to Sound
without Hearing It

BEFORE YOU READ

• “God may have taken her hearing but he has given her back
something extraordinary. What we hear, she feels — far more
deeply than any of us. That is why she expresses music so
beautifully.”
• Read the following account of a person who fought against a
physical disability and made her life a success story.

1. R U S H hour crowds jostle for position on the jostle: push roughly

underground train platform. A slight girl, looking slight: small and
younger than her seventeen years, was nervous yet thin
excited as she felt the vibrations of the approaching
train. It was her first day at the prestigious Royal
Academy of Music in London and daunting enough daunting: frightening
for any teenager fresh from a Scottish farm. But
this aspiring musician faced a bigger challenge than aspiring musician: a
most: she was profoundly deaf. person who wants
to be a musician
2. Evelyn Glennie’s loss of hearing had been gradual.
Her mother remembers noticing something was
wrong when the eight-year-old Evelyn was waiting
to play the piano. “They called her name and she
didn’t move. I suddenly realised she hadn’t heard,”
says Isabel Glennie. For quite a while Evelyn
managed to conceal her growing deafness from
friends and teachers. But by the time she was
eleven her marks had deteriorated and her
headmistress urged her parents to take her to a

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specialist. It was then discovered that her hearing

was severely impaired as a result of gradual nerve impaired: weakened
damage. They were advised that she should be fitted
with hearing aids and sent to a school for the deaf.
“Everything suddenly looked black,” says Evelyn.
3. 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
a xylophone and decided that she wanted to play it xylophone: a musical
too. Most of the teachers discouraged her but instrument with a
row of wooden bars
percussionist Ron Forbes spotted her potential. He of different lengths
began by tuning two large drums to different notes.
percussionist: a
“Don’t listen through your ears,” he would say, “try person who plays the
to sense it some other way.” Says Evelyn, “Suddenly drum, the tabla, etc.
I realised I could feel the higher drum from the potential: quality or
waist up and the lower one from the waist down.” ability that can be
Forbes repeated the exercise, and soon Evelyn developed
discovered that she could sense certain notes in
different parts of her body. “I had learnt to open my
mind and body to sounds and vibrations.” The rest
was sheer determination and hard work.
4. She never looked back from that point onwards.
She toured the United Kingdom with a youth
orchestra and by the time she was sixteen, she had
decided to make music her life. She auditioned for auditioned: gave a
the Royal Academy of Music and scored one of the short performance so
that the director
highest marks in the history of the academy. She could decide whether
gradually moved from orchestral work to solo she was good enough
performances. At the end of her three-year course,
she had captured most of the top awards.
5. And for all this, Evelyn won’t accept any hint of
heroic achievement. “If you work hard and know
where you are going, you’ll get there.” And she got
right to the top, the world’s most sought-after multi-
percussionist with a mastery of some thousand
instruments, and hectic international schedule.
6. It is intriguing to watch Evelyn function so intriguing: fascinating
effortlessly without hearing. In our two-hour and curious
discussion she never missed a word. “Men with
bushy beards give me trouble,” she laughed. “It is
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It is intriguing to watch Evelyn function

so effortlessly without hearing

not just watching the lips, it’s the whole face,

especially the eyes.” She speaks flawlessly with a flawlessly: without a
Scottish lilt. “My speech is clear because I could fault or mistake
hear till I was eleven,” she says. But that doesn’t lilt: a way of
explain how she managed to learn French and speaking
master basic Japanese.
7. As for music, she explains, “It pours in through
every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my tingles: causes a
cheekbones and even in my hair.” When she plays slight pricking or
stinging sensation
the xylophone, she can sense the sound passing up
the stick into her fingertips. By leaning against the
drums, she can feel the resonances flowing into her resonances: echoes
body. On a wooden platform she removes her shoes of sounds
so that the vibrations pass through her bare feet
and up her legs.
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8. Not surprisingly, Evelyn delights her audiences. In

1991 she was presented with the Royal
Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Soloist of the Year
Award. Says master percussionist James Blades,
“God may have taken her hearing but he has given
her back something extraordinary. What we hear,
she feels — far more deeply than any of us. That is
why she expresses music so beautifully.”
9. Evelyn confesses that she is something of a
workaholic. “I’ve just got to work . . . often harder workaholic (informal):
than classical musicians. But the rewards are a person who finds it
difficult to stop
enormous.” Apart from the regular concerts, Evelyn working
also gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals.
She also gives high priority to classes for young priority: great
musicians. Ann Richlin of the Beethoven Fund for importance
Deaf Children says, “She is a shining inspiration
for deaf children. They see that there is nowhere
that they cannot go.”
10. Evelyn Glennie has already accomplished more than
most people twice her age. She has brought
percussion to the front of the orchestra, and
demonstrated that it can be very moving. She has
given inspiration to those who are handicapped,
people who look to her and say, ‘If she can do it, I
can.’ And, not the least, she has given enormous
pleasure to millions.

DEBORAH COWLEY

Thinking about the T

Teext
I. 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?
2. When was her deafness first noticed? When was it confirmed?
II. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (30 – 40 words).
1. Who helped her to continue with music? What did he do and say?
2. Name the various places and causes for which Evelyn performs.
III. Answer the question in two or three paragraphs (100 –150 words).
1. How does Evelyn hear music?

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Part II
The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan

BEFORE YOU READ

• Do you know these people? What instruments do they play?

• Think of the shehnai and the first thing you’ll probably imagine
is a wedding or a similar occasion or function. The next would
probably be Ustad Bismillah Khan, the shehnai maestro,
playing this instrument.

1. EMPEROR Aurangzeb banned the playing of a musical

instrument called pungi in the royal residence for
it had a shrill unpleasant sound. Pungi became the
generic name for reeded noisemakers. Few had generic name: a name
thought that it would one day be revived. A barber given to a class or
group as a whole
of a family of professional musicians, who had access
to the royal palace, decided to improve the tonal reeded: wind
instruments which
quality of the pungi. He chose a pipe with a natural have reeds like the
hollow stem that was longer and broader than the flute, the clarinet, etc.
pungi, and made seven holes on the body of the
pipe. When he played on it, closing and opening
some of these holes, soft and melodious sounds were
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produced. He played the instrument before royalty

and everyone was impressed. The instrument so
different from the pungi had to be given a new name.
As the story goes, since it was first played in the
Shah’s chambers and was played by a nai (barber),
the instrument was named the ‘shehnai’.

Pungi Shehnai

2. The sound of the shehnai began to be considered

auspicious. And for this reason it is still played in auspicious:
temples and is an indispensable component of any promising to bring
good fortune
North Indian wedding. In the past, the shehnai was
part of the naubat or traditional ensemble of nine indispensable:
without which a
instruments found at royal courts. Till recently it piece of work cannot
was used only in temples and weddings. The credit be done
for bringing this instrument onto the classical stage ensembles
goes to Ustad Bismillah Khan. (pronounced
3. As a five-year old, Bismillah Khan played gilli-danda ‘onsomble’): things
(here, instruments)
near a pond in the ancient estate of Dumraon in considered as a group
Bihar. He would regularly go to the nearby Bihariji
temple to sing the Bhojpuri ‘Chaita’, at the end of
which he would earn a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg,
a prize given by the local Maharaja. This happened
80 years ago, and the little boy has travelled far to
earn the highest civilian award in India — the
Bharat Ratna.
4. Born on 21 March 1916, Bismillah belongs to a
well-known family of musicians from Bihar. His
grandfather, Rasool Bux Khan, was the shehnai-
nawaz of the Bhojpur king’s court. His father,
paternal ancestors:
Paigambar Bux, and other paternal ancestors were ancestors of the
also great shehnai players. father

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5. The young boy took to music early in life. At the age of

three when his mother took him to his maternal
uncle’s house in Benaras (now Varanasi), Bismillah
was fascinated watching his uncles practise the
shehnai. Soon Bismillah started accompanying his
uncle, Ali Bux, to the Vishnu temple of Benaras where
Bux was employed to play the shehnai. Ali Bux would
play the shehnai and Bismillah would sit captivated
for hours on end. Slowly, he started getting lessons on end: for a very
in playing the instrument and would sit practising long time without
stopping
throughout the day. For years to come the temple of
Balaji and Mangala Maiya and the banks of the Ganga
became the young apprentice’s favourite haunts where
he could practise in solitude. The flowing waters of
the Ganga inspired him to improvise and invent raagas
that were earlier considered to be beyond the range
of the shehnai.
6. At the age of 14, Bismillah accompanied his uncle
to the Allahabad Music Conference. At the end of
his recital, Ustad Faiyaz Khan patted the young
boy’s back and said, “Work hard and you shall make
it.” With the opening of the All India Radio in
Lucknow in 1938 came Bismillah’s big break. He
soon became an often-heard shehnai player on radio.
7. When India gained independence on 15 August 1947,
Bismillah Khan became the first Indian to greet the
nation with his shehnai. He poured his heart out
into Raag Kafi from the Red Fort to an audience
which included Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who later
gave his famous ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech.
8. Bismillah Khan has given many memorable
performances both in India and abroad. 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 was not the only one to be taken in by: attracted
or charmed by
fascinated with Bismillah’s music. Film director
Vijay Bhatt was so impressed after hearing souvenirs: things
given in memory of a
Bismillah play at a festival that he named a film place, person or
after the instrument called Gunj Uthi Shehnai. The event

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film was a hit, and one of Bismillah Khan’s

compositions, “Dil ka khilona hai toot gaya ...,” turned
out to be a nationwide chartbuster! Despite this chartbuster: record-
huge success in the celluloid world, Bismillah breaker
Khan’s ventures in film music were limited to two: celluloid: old-
Vijay Bhatt’s Gunj Uthi Shehnai and Vikram fashioned way of
referring to films
Srinivas’s Kannada venture, Sanadhi Apanna. “I just
venture: project that
can’t come to terms with the artificiality and
often involves risk
glamour of the film world,” he says with emphasis.
9. Awards and recognition came thick and fast.
Bismillah Khan became the first Indian to be invited
to perform at the prestigious Lincoln Centre Hall in
the United States of America. He also took part in
the World Exposition in Montreal, in the Cannes
Art Festival and in the Osaka Trade Fair. So well
known did he become internationally that an
auditorium in Teheran was named after him —
Tahar Mosiquee Ustaad Bismillah Khan.
10. National awards like the Padmashri, the Padma
Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan were
conferred on him. conferred: given,
11. In 2001, Ustad Bismillah Khan was awarded India’s usually an award or
a degree
highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. With the
coveted award resting on his chest and his eyes coveted: much
glinting with rare happiness he said, “All I would desired
like to say is: Teach your children music, this is
Hindustan’s richest tradition; even the West is now
coming to learn our music.’’
12. In spite of having travelled all over the world —
Khansaab as he is fondly called — is exceedingly
fond of Benaras and Dumraon and they remain for
him the most wonderful towns of the world. A
student of his once wanted him to head a shehnai
school in the U.S.A., and the student promised to
recreate the atmosphere of Benaras by replicating
the temples there. But Khansaab asked him if he
would be able to transport River Ganga as well.
Later he is remembered to have said, “That is why
whenever I am in a foreign country, I keep yearning
to see Hindustan. While in Mumbai, I think of only
Benaras and the holy Ganga. And while in Benaras,
I miss the unique mattha of Dumraon.”
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SHEKHAR GUPTA: When Partition happened, didn’t you and your

family think of moving to Pakistan?
BISMILLAH KHAN: God forbid! Me, leave Benaras? Never! I went
to Pakistan once—I crossed the border just to say I have been
to Pakistan. I was there for about an hour. I said namaskar
to the Pakistanis and salaam alaikum to the Indians! I had a
good laugh. (Readers’ Digest, October 2005)

13. Ustad Bismillah Khan’s life is a perfect example of

the rich, cultural heritage of India, one that devout: believing
effortlessly accepts that a devout Muslim like him strongly in a religion
and obeying its laws
can very naturally play the shehnai every morning and following its
at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. practices

[Ustad Bismillah Khan passed away on 21 August 2006 at

the age of ninety after a prolonged illness. He was given a
state funeral and the Government of India declared one day
of national mourning.]

Teext
Thinking about the T
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).
II. Find the words in the text which show Ustad Bismillah Khan’s feelings about
the items listed below. Then mark a tick (4) in the correct column. Discuss your
answers in class.

Bismillah Khan’s feelings about Positive Negative Neutral

1. teaching children music
2. the film world
3. migrating to the U.S.A.
4. playing at temples
5. getting the Bharat Ratna
6. the banks of the Ganga
7. leaving Benaras and Dumraon

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III. Answer these questions in 30– 40 words.

1. Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi?
2. How is a shehnai different from a pungi?
3. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah Khan change
this?
4. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?
5. Where did Bismillah Khan play the shehnai on 15 August 1947? Why was
the event historic?
6. Why did Bismillah Khan refuse to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A.?
7. Find at least two instances in the text which tell you that Bismillah Khan
loves India and Benaras.

Thinking about Language

I. Look at these sentences.
• Evelyn was determined to live a normal life.
• Evelyn managed to conceal her growing deafness from friends and teachers.
The italicised parts answer the questions: “What was Evelyn determined to do?”
and “What did Evelyn manage to do?” They begin with a to-verb (to live, to conceal).
Complete the following sentences. Beginning with a to-verb, try to answer the
questions in brackets.

1. The school sports team hopes (What does it hope to do?)

2. We all want (What do we all want to do?)

3. They advised the hearing-impaired child’s mother (What

did they advise her to do?)

4. The authorities permitted us to (What did the authorities

permit us to do?)

5. A musician decided to (What did the musician decide

to do?)

II. From the text on Bismillah Khan, find the words and phrases that match these
definitions and write them down. The number of the paragraph where you will
find the words/phrases has been given for you in brackets.

1. the home of royal people (1)

2. the state of being alone (5)

3. a part which is absolutely necessary (2)

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4. to do something not done before (5)

5. without much effort (13)

6. quickly and in large quantities (9) and

III. Tick the right answer.
1. When something is revived, it (remains dead/lives again).
2. When a government bans something, it wants it (stopped/started).
3. When something is considered auspicious, (welcome it/avoid it).
4. When we take to something, we find it (boring/interesting).
5. When you appreciate something, you (find it good and useful/find it of
no use).
6. When you replicate something, you do it (for the first time/for the second
time).
7. When we come to terms with something, it is (still upsetting/no longer
upsetting).
IV. Dictionary work
• The sound of the shehnai is auspicious.
• The auspicious sound of the shehnai is usually heard at marriages.
The adjective auspicious can occur after the verb be as in the first sentence,
or before a noun as in the second. But there are some adjectives which can be
used after the verb be and not before a noun. For example:
• Ustad Faiyaz Khan was overjoyed.
We cannot say: *the overjoyed man.
Look at these entries from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005).

elder adi., noun awake adj., verb

adjective 1 [only before noun] adjective [not before noun] not
(of people, especially two asleep (especially immediately
members of the same family) before or after sleeping): to be
older: my elder brother • his half/fully awake; to be wide
elder sister 2 (the elder) used awake. I was still awake when
without a noun immediately after he came to bed.
it to show who is the older of two
people: the elder of their two
sons 3 (the elder) (formal) used
before or after sb’s name to show
that they are the older of two
people who have the same name:
the elder Pitt • Pitt, the elder.

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Consult your dictionary and complete the following table. The first one has been
done for you.

adjective only before noun not before noun both before and
after the verb be
indispensable ✔
impressed
afraid
outdoor
paternal
countless
priceless

Use these words in phrases or sentences of your own.

Speaking
I. Imagine the famous singer Kishori Amonkar is going to visit your school. You
have been asked to introduce her to the audience before her performance. How
would you introduce her?
Here is some information about Kishori Amonkar you can find on the Internet.
Read the passage and make notes of the main points about:
• her parentage
• the school of music she belongs to
• her achievements
• her inspiration
• awards
Padma Bhushan Kishori Amonkar, widely considered the finest female
vocalist of her generation, was born in 1931, daughter of another great artist,
Smt. Mogubai Kurdikar. In her early years she absorbed the approach and
repertoire of her distinguished mother’s teacher Ustad Alladiya Khan. As her
own style developed, however, she moved away from Alladiya Khan’s ‘Jaipur-
Atrauli gharana’ style in some respects, and as a mature artist her approach
is usually regarded as an individual, if not unique, variant of the Jaipur
model.
Kishori Amonkar is a thinker, besotted by what she calls the mysterious
world of her raagas. She dissects them with the precision of a perfectionist,
almost like a scientist, until the most subtle of shades and emotions emerge
and re-emerge.
She is very much inspired by the teachings of the ancient Vedic sages,
written at a time when vocal music was highly devotional in character. This

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soul searching quality of her music, coupled with a very intellectual approach
to raaga performance has gained her quite a following in India and has helped
to revive the study of khayal.
Significant awards bestowed on this artist include the Sangeet Natak
Akademi Award (1985), the Padma Bhushan (1987), and the highly coveted
Sangeet Samradhini Award (considered one of the most prestigious awards
in Indian Classical Music) in 1997.
II. Use your notes on Kishori Amonkar to introduce her to an imaginary audience.
You may use one of the following phrases to introduce a guest:
I am honoured to introduce.../I feel privileged to introduce.../We welcome you...

Writing
“If you work hard and know where you’re going, you’ll get there,” says Evelyn
Glennie.
You have now read about two musicians, Evelyn Glennie and Ustad Bismillah
Khan. Do you think that they both worked hard? Where did they want to ‘go’ ?
Answer these questions in two paragraphs, one on each of the two musicians.

Whenever you see darkness, there is extraordinary

opportunity for the light to burn brighter.
BONO

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W ind

The wind blows strongly and causes a lot of destruction.

How can we make friends with it?

Wind, come softly.

Don’t break the shutters of the windows.
Don’t scatter the papers.
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.
There, look what you did — you threw them all down.
You tore the pages of the books.
You brought rain again.
You’re very clever at poking fun at weaklings.
Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors, crumbling rafters,
crumbling wood, crumbling bodies, crumbling lives,
crumbling hearts —
the wind god winnows and crushes them all.
He won’t do what you tell him.
So, come, let’s build strong homes,
Let’s joint the doors firmly.
Practise to firm the body.
Make the heart steadfast.
Do this, and the wind will be friends with us.
The wind blows out weak fires.
He makes strong fires roar and flourish.
His friendship is good.
We praise him every day.

SUBRAMANIA BHARATI
[translated from the Tamil by
A.K. Ramanujan]

Subramania Bharati (1882 –1921) is a great Tamil poet, famous

for his patriotism in the pre-Independence era.
A.K. Ramanujan is a Kannada and English poet, well known for
his translation of classical and modern poetry.

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GLOSSARY
poking fun: making fun of
rafters: sloping beams supporting a roof
winnow: blow grain free of chaff; separate grain from husk by blowing on it

Thinking about the Poem

I. 1. What are the things the wind does in the first stanza?

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?

4. What should we do to make friends with the wind?
5. What do the last four lines of the poem mean to you?
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?
II. The poem you have just read is originally in the Tamil. Do you know any such
poems in your language?

The tree on the mountain takes whatever the

weather brings. If it has any choice at all, it is in
putting down roots as deeply as possible.
CORRIE TEN BOOM

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