THE SOUND OF MUSIC CLASS IX CBSE

1. The Sound Of Music Prepared by ---Ravi MansinghYadav

2. The Writer • Deborah (Mason) Cowley is a freelance writer and broadcaster. She grew up in Toronto, graduated from the University of Western Ontario and moved to Ottawa to work for the Unitarian Service Committee. • As she traveled the world with her diplomat husband, she worked as a reporter for CBC radio in Washington, D.C. and on a posting to Cairo, she worked on several TV documentaries for CBC’s Man Alive. •  Also in Egypt, she wrote the first official guide book to Cairo since Baedeker’s guide in the 1940’s.

3. Introduction • Birth name : Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie • Born : 19 July 1965 • Place:Aberdeenshire, Scotland • Occupation: Percussionist • Achievements: Owns over 2000 percussion instruments all over the world  • Film : Touch the sound (made on the life of Evelyne)

4. Achievements • Dame Evelyn Glennie is the first person in history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist, performing worldwide with the greatest orchestras, conductors and artists. • Evelyn paved the way for orchestras globally to feature percussion concerti when she played the first percussion concerto in the history of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992.

5. Leading 1000 drummers, Evelyn had the honour of a prominent role in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. • Evelyn was awarded an OBE in 1993 and now has over 100 international awards, including the Polar Music Prize and the Companion of Honour. • . She aims to ‘improve communication and social cohesion by encouraging everyone to discover new ways of listening as proven in her book ‘Listen World!’.

6. Part 1 - Evelyn Glennie Listens to Sound without Hearing It • The title itself is very interesting. • Here the author says Evelyn Glennielistens to sound without hearing it. • How can you listen to sound when you can’t hear? So, this is something we will discover from the chapter that how Evelyn Glennie was able to listen to sound although she could not hear.

7. “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.” Opening Lines • Someone has commented this about Evelyn. • He says that although god took away her hearing power, she was impaired, but he gave her an extraordinary thing and that was the sense of feeling. • She could feel very deeply.  Far more deeply than the normal people. And that is why she was able to express music so beautifully, so well.

8. Lets learn some word meanings • jostle: push roughly • slight: small and thin • daunting: frightening • aspiring musician: a person who wants to be a musician • profoundly : Extremely • Deteriorated : become progressively worse • impaired: weakened • xylophone: a musical instrument with a row of wooden bars of different lengths

9. percussionist: a person who plays the drum, the tabla, etc. • potential: quality or ability that can be developed • intriguing: fascinating and curious • flawlessly: without a fault or mistake • lilt: a way of speaking • tingles: causes a slight pricking or stinging sensation • resonances: echoes of sounds

10. Paragraph - 1 Explanation • There is a small thin girl, it is Evelyn. Evelyn is standing at the railway platform waiting for the train. She feels the vibrations of the approaching train, she gets nervous and excited. • This is the train that will take Evelyn to London. She got admission in the Royal Academy of Music. • Life in Scotland is not as fast as in London.  So that is why Evelyn is nervous because she is leaving Scotland for London. • And she is excited also because she is doing something that she always dreamt of. Royal academy of music (london)

11. Paragraph – 2 Explanation Slowly slowly, she started losing the power of hearing and one day she was absolutely deaf. Isabel(her mother) remembers one incident when she did not respond on calling her name she was eight years at that time. She even hide her deafness from her friends and teachers for a while. But by the time she was eleven her marks had deteriorated and her headmistress urged her parents to take her to aspecialist. It was then discovered that her hearing was severely impaired as a result of gradual nerve damage. They were advised that she should be fitted with hearing aids and sent to a school for the deaf.

12. Hearing Aid • Xylophone

13. Paragraph -3 (Part-1)Explanation • Evelyn was very determined(strong on one’s decision) not to give up. • When she wanted to play xylophone her most teachers discouraged her as it was difficult for her. • But Ron Forbes (percussionist) took interest and started giving training to Evelyn. • He gave her two drums and told her “ Don’t try to listen through your ears but in some other ways.”

14. Paragraph -3 (Part-2) Explanation • “Suddenly she realised that 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. • “I had learnt to open my mind and body to sounds and vibrations.” said Evelyn. • In this way she worked hard and started learning musical instruments. Ron Forbes with Evelyn Glennie

15. Paragraph -4 Explanation • 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 the Royal Academy of Music and scored one of the highest marks in the history of the academy. • 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.

16. Paragraph -5 Explanation • “If you work hard and know where you are going, you’ll get there.” • She got right to the top, the world’s most sought-after multipercussionist with a mastery of some thousand instruments, and hectic international schedule.

17. Paragraph -6 &7 Explanation • She was flawless. (making no mistakes) • “It is not just watching the lips, it’s the whole face, especially the eyes.” • “My speech is clear because I could hear till I was eleven,” she says. She learnt French and basic Japanese also. • Music pours through her body. Every part could feel the sensation. • When she used to take out shoes on wooden platform so as to feel the vibration in her feet.

18. Paragraph -8,9 &10 Explanation • In 1991 she was presented with the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Soloist of the Year Award. • She admitted that she was workaholic. • Evelyn also gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals. • She gave inspiration to millions of people around the world.

19. Important Questions • Who helped her to continue with music? What did he do and say? Ans. Evelyn was discouraged by her teachers but master – percussionist Ron Forbes guided Evelyn to feel music some other way rather than hearing it. He got two large drums and tuned them to different notes. When he played the drums, Evelyn reacted to the distinct notes differently. She realized that she could feel the higher notes produced by one of the drums through the upper part of her body, above the waist and the lower notes of the other drum through the lower part of her body, below the waist. This worked well for Evelyn and gradually, she found that she could sense different sounds and vibrations through different parts of her body.

20. Important Questions 2.How does Evelyn hear music? Ans. Evelyn became profoundly deaf at the age of eleven.Evelyn realized that she could sense different sounds and vibrations through different parts of her body. Evelyn can feel music penetrate her body though various parts – cheeks, hair, skin, etc. When she plays the xylophone, she feels the sound move from the sticks into her finger tips. When the drums are played, she can feel the echo of the drum beats through her body. Evelyn removes her footwear as she performs on a wooden floor so that she can feel the vibrations produced by different instruments pass through her feet up her legs. Thus, Evelyn has sensitized her body to music.

21. Imp. Questions 3. When was her deafness first noticed? When was it confirmed? Ans. When Evelyn was eight years old, her mother, Isabelle Glennie noticed that Evelyn did not respond to her name being called out at the piano class. Evelyn’s loss of hearing was gradual and for some time she was able to hide her disability from her teachers and friends. By the time she turned eleven, her marks deteriorated, and her parents took her to a doctor. Then, it was discovered that Evelyn was profoundly deaf.

22. For an exciting quiz on the chapter • Visit my blog raviyadavenglish.blogspot.com