Beehive L.2 The Sound Of Music

Learning sheet Solutions – 3

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Name these Indian Musicians. Also identify which instruments they play. (Answers) Name Instrument 1. Amjad Ali Khan Sarod 2. Ustad Zakir Hussain Tabla 3. Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia Bansuri/flute 4. Dr. M.S. Subbalakshmi Tanpura 5. Pandit Shivkumar Sharma Santoor 6. Ravi Shankar Chowdhury Sitar 7. Ustad Bismillah Khan Shehnai/clarinet Explain 1. Answer the questions in your jotter. (a) Why did the pungi become a generic name for “reeded noisemakers”? The pungi produced loud, unpleasant music. Because of this shrill music Aurangzeb banned it in the royal house. As it was made from a reed and produced noisy sounds, it became a generic name for “reeded noisemakers”. (b) How did ‘pungi’ transform to shehnai? ‘Pungi’ a musical instrument was banned because of its shrill and unpleasant sound. A nai (barber), who had access to the royal palace, improved the tonal quality of the pungi. He chose a pipe with a natural hollow stem that was longer and broader than the pungi and made seven holes on the body of the pipe. When he played on it, soft and melodious sounds were produced and everyone was impressed. As it was played in the Shah’s chambers for the first time by a nai, the instrument was named the ‘shehnai’. (c) Why was the shehnai played in temples and weddings? The music of the shehnai was melodious and soft. It came to be believed that it was auspicious. Therefore, in the holy temples and on the happy auspicious occasions of weddings, the shehnai was played. It is an indispensable component of any North Indian wedding. (d) Where did Bismillah Khan usually sing at the age of five? How was he rewarded and by whom? At the age of five, Bismillah Khan regularly went to the nearby Bihariji temple to sing the Bhojpuri ‘Chaita”. At the end of the song, he earned a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg, a prize given b the local Maharaja. (e) What kind of family did Bismillah Khan hail from? Bismillah Khan hailed from a family of musicians in Bihar. His grandfather Rasool Bux Khan was the shehnai player in the royal court of the king of Bhojpur. His father Paigambar Bux and other paternal and maternal ancestors were also great shehnai players.

Explain 2. Answer the questions in your jotters. (f) Who was Ali Bux? Where was he employed and what was his influence on Bismillah Khan? Ali Bux was the maternal uncle of Bismillah Khan. He was a great shehnai player and was employed to play the shehnai in the Vishnu temple of Benaras. At a very young age, Bismillah khan started accompanying him and got lessons in playing the shehnai from him. The young boy would sit for hours listening to his uncle and later practice throughout the day. (g) Explain the idiom ‘hours on end’ in the given passage. ‘hours on end’ - Continuously, without interruption or continuously without stopping (h) Which places were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts for practicing music? Why? The temple of Balaji and Mangala Maiya, as well as the banks of the Ganga were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts because he could practice his music there in solitude. The flowing waters of Ganga inspired him to improvise and invent ragas which wee earlier considered beyond the range of the shehnai. (i) When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break? The ‘big break’ came to Bismillah Khan when in 1938 the All India Radio was started in Lucknow. Khansaab was regularly invited to play the shehnai and soon became an often-heard shehnai player on the radio. Textual Questions 3. Write answers in your notebook. (j) Why did Aurngzeb ban the playing of pungi in his royal residence? Aurangzeb banned the playing of pungi in his royal residence because he did not like its shrill unpleasant sound. (k) Where was shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah khan change this? The shehnai was played traditionally in the temples, at the royal courts and on the occasion or weddings. In the royal courts it was played as one of the nine instruments together known as naubat. The credit for a bringing this instrument onto the classical stage goes to Ustad Bismillah Khan. Thinking about Language 4. Choose the word/words which is closest in meaning to the italicized word in the sentence: (a) When something is revived, it (remains dead/lives again). (b) When a government bans something, it wants it (stopped/started). (c) When something is considered auspicious, (welcome it/avoid it). (d) When we take to something, we find it (boring/interesting). (e) When you appreciate something, you (find it good and useful/find it of no use). (f) When you replicate something, you do it (for the first time/for the second time). (g) When we come to terms with something, it is (still upsetting/no longer upsetting). 5. Complete the following paragraph by choosing the correct word from the options given below. Answers (a) (iii) returned (b) (iii) had broken (c) (ii) were (d) (iv) had just left (e) (iii) had heard (f) (iii) ran (g) (iv) dropped (h) (ii) were caught