Class - IX Prose 1 The Sound of Music
Class - IX Prose 1 The Sound of Music
Class - IX Prose 1 The Sound of Music
1. Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.
i) Rush hour crowds jostle for position on the underground train platform. A slight girl, looking younger than her 17
yrs, was nervous yet 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 for any teenager fresh from a Scottish farm.
But, this aspiring musician faced a bigger challenge than most : Se was profoundly deaf.
ii) 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 too. Most of the teachers
discourages her but percussionist Ron Forbes Spotted her potential. He began by turning two large drums to
different notes. “ Don‟t listen through your ears,” He would say, “ try to sense it some other way”.
a) Evelyn was not going to give up. Why was she not going to give up?
2. Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.
i) 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 dreaded noisemakers. Few had thought that it would
one day be revived. A barber of a family of professional musicians, who had access to the royal palace, decided to
ii) As a five years old, Bismillah Khan played gili – danda near a pond in the ancient estate of Dumraon in 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.
a) According to the passage, how did Bismillah Khan spend his childhood?
c) How does Bihariji temple attract Bismillah Khan at the age of five?
d) Why did the local Maharaja give a big laddu to Bismillah Khan?