The Sound of Music Class 9 Worksheet English Chapter 1

Multiple Choice Questions

Q1: Where was the Shehnai played traditionally?
(a) In wedding ceremonies
(b) In temples
(c) Auspicious ceremonies
(d) All of these

Q2: Who banned pungi from the royal residence?
(a) Jahangir
(b) Emperor Akbar
(c) Shah Jahan
(d) Emperor Aurangzeb

Q3: Name India's highest civilian award that Ustad Bismillah Khan was awarded in the year 2001.
(a) The Padmashri
(b) The Padma Bhushan
(c) The Bharat Ratna
(d) The Padma Vibhushan

Q4: From whom did Bismillah Khan learn shehnai?
(a) Akbar Ali
(b) Ali Bux
(c) Ghulam Ali
(d) Ali Ahmed

Q5: What does the title of the text The Sound of Music denote?
(a) The sound of a particular instrument
(b) The sound of a song
(c) The life in music
(d) The sound of various musical instruments

Q6: When did Evelyn feel everything so dark in life?
(a) When she was advised to go to a deaf school
(b) When she performed poorly at the examination
(c) When she failed in her music audition
(d) When she was advised to use hearing aids and go to the deaf school

Q7: The instrument of shehnai was brought to the ________ stage in the history of Indian music by Ustad Bismillah Khan.
(a) classical
(b) western
(c) folk
(d) popular music

Q8: What was the source of inspiration for Bismillah?
(a) Royal Palaces
(b) Red Fort
(c) Ganga Ghats
(d) None of these

Q9: When did Bismillah get his first big break as a Shehnai performer?
(a) 1945
(b) In 1938, when All India Radio came into existence
(c) 1987
(d) 1989

Q10: Who was Ali Bux?
(a) Bismillah’s grandfather
(b) Bismillah’s maternal uncle
(c) Bismillah’s friend
(d) Bismillah’s father

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Short Answer Questions

Q1: How old was Evelyn when she went to the Royal Academy of Music? Why was she nervous on her way to the academy?
Q2: Why was Evelyn Glennie going to face a bigger challenge at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London?
Q3: Who advised Evelyn’s parents to take her to a specialist? Why?
Q4: “Everything suddenly looked black”. Why did Evelyn feel this way?
Q5: How did Evelyn’s teachers respond when she expressed her desire to play a xylophone?

Long Answer Questions

Q1: “If you work hard and know where you are going, you’ll get there,” remarks Evelyn Glennie. What does it reveal about her character?
Q2: Evelyn is an inspiration to all. Justify.
Q3: Evelyn did not succumb to her disability. Comment.
Q4: Evelyn is very down-to-earth and does not succumb to hero worship. Comment.

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Reference Based Questions

Q1: 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.
(a) Who is referred to as the ‘aspiring musician’?
(b) How old was this ‘aspiring musician’ when she went to the Royal Academy of Music?
(c) What was likely to ‘daunt any teenager’?
(d) Why did she “a bigger challenge than most”?

Q2: 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.
(a) Who is Isabel Glennie?
(b) Why did Evelyn Glennie not move to play the piano?
(c) When was her deafness first noticed?
(d) How did Evelyn lose her hearing?

Q3: They were advised that she should be fitted with hearing aids and sent to a school for the deaf.
(a) Who are ‘they’? By whom were they advised?
(b) Who is ‘she’?
(c) What was the course of action recommended for her?
(d) How had her mother realised that Evelyn was having problems with her hearing?

Q4: 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 discouraged her, but percussionist Ron Forbes spotted her potential.
(a) Why was Evelyn not going to give up?
(b) What did she want to do?
(c) Why did her teachers not encourage her?
(d) Who encouraged her? What did he say?

Q5: 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.
(a) Who is ‘she’?
(b) What does ‘that point’ refer to?
(c) Where did she go with a youth orchestra?
(d) What was her age when she decided to make music her life?

Q6: She gradually moved from orchestral work to solo performances. At the end of her three-year course, she had captured most of the top awards.
(a) How did Evelyn advance in her career?
(b) Where did she pursue her three-year course?
(c) What were her achievements at the end of her course?
(d) What made her achievements so great?

Q7: 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.”
(a) What does ‘all this’ refer to?
(b) Why is it a heroic achievement?
(c) To what does Evelyn give credit for her achievement?
(d) What quality of Evelyn’s character is reflected in this?

Q8: In our two-hour discussion she never missed a word. “Men with bushy beards give me trouble,” she laughed. “It is not just watching the lips, it’s the whole face, especially the eyes.”
(a) Who is ‘she’? Why is it strange that she never missed a word?
(b) How does she hear the words?
(c) Why do men with bushy beards give her trouble?
(d) Which are the languages that she speaks?

Q9: As for music, she explains, “It pours in through every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my cheekbones and even in my hair.” When she plays 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 body.
(a) Who is the speaker in the first line?
(b) What is it that pours in through every part of her body?
(c) How was she able to hear sounds and vibrations?
(d) How did Ron Forbes help her to continue with music?

Q10: “I’ve just got to work… Often harder than classical musicians. But the rewards are enormous.” Apart from the regular concerts, Evelyn also gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She also gives high priority to classes for young musicians. Ann Richlin of the Beethoven Fund for Deaf Children says, “She is a shining inspiration for deaf children. They see that there is nowhere that they cannot go.”
(a) Evelyn works harder than classical musicians. What does it imply?
(b) For whom does Evelyn perform for free?
(c) “…there is nowhere that they cannot go.” Who are they here?
(d) What quality of Evelyn’s character is shown by her actions?

The solutions of the worksheet "Worksheet Solutions: The Sound of Music"