NCERT Solutions Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 9 · ENGLISH

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 6: Twin Melodies

NCERT Textbook — Kaveri

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

169 – 202 18 100 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 101 pages

Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 9 · ENGLISH · KAVERI

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 6: Twin Melodies
Chapter 6 of Kaveri holds two pieces about what music is for. Twin Melodies by Mitra Phukan is a three-act
play in which a young violinist, Shruti, must tell her strict classical-musician father that she wants to play in an
Indo-Western fusion group — and discovers that he once fought the same battle with his own father. A Friend
Found in Music by Bryanna T. Perkins is a twelve-line lyric built on one repeated sentence — Music is the… —
which turns music into ocean, rhythm, therapy and finally friend.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Kaveri (Class 9) 169 – 202

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

18 100

MEDIUM

English

Reflect and Respond — Pages 169–170
Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

BEFORE YOU READ

Q1 I. Given below are some stringed musical instruments. Work in pairs and identify
them by first letter of the spellings of their names. S................... S...................
S................... S................... M................... V................... G................... B...................

Every instrument in the two rows is a stringed instrument — its sound is made by a stretched
string that is plucked, struck or bowed. The first letter is the clue, so work through the families
of stringed instruments you know and match each name to the picture in front of you.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLUE INSTRUMENT HOW THE STRING IS SOUNDED

S Sitar Plucked with a wire plectrum (mizrab); long neck, gourd body, sympathetic
strings that ring on their own

S Sarod Plucked; fretless metal fingerboard, so the note can slide (meend)

S Sarangi Bowed; the instrument said to come closest to the human voice

S Santoor Struck with a pair of light wooden mallets on about a hundred strings

M Mandolin Plucked; paired strings, a bright, quick sound

V Veena (or Violin) Veena — plucked, the classic South Indian instrument; Violin — bowed,
and the instrument Shruti and her father play

G Guitar Plucked or strummed; six strings over a fretted neck

B Banjo Plucked; a drum-like skin head gives it a sharp, ringing tone

Why the exercise opens the chapter: the play that follows is an argument between
an Indian classical tradition and a Western one, fought out on the same instrument.
Naming sitar, sarod, sarangi and santoor beside guitar, mandolin and banjo shows
you at once that ‘stringed instrument’ is not the property of any one culture — which
is exactly the point Nabin Sharma finally accepts in Act III.

Check it yourself: in the copy of the book used to prepare these solutions the two
picture strips on page 169 did not print, so match each name to the picture above
the letter in your book. The letters V and B are the ones to look at carefully: a veena
has a long fretted neck between two gourds, a violin is small, waisted and played
with a bow, and a banjo has a round drum-like body with a skin stretched across it.

Q2 II. Do you play a musical instrument? If given a choice, which one would you choose
and why?

This asks about you, so it must be answered in your own words. But ‘why’ means an opinion by
itself will not do — the reason has to come from something real about the instrument or about
you.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What a good answer needs:

A direct yes or no first, with the instrument named.
A reason drawn from the instrument itself — its sound, the kind of music it
suits, how it is played — not just ‘I like it’.
One honest practical point: what it would take to learn it (a teacher, daily riyaz,
the cost of the instrument).
Two or three sentences is enough. Do not pad.

Sample answer: No, I do not play an instrument yet, but if I were given a choice I would learn
the tabla. What draws me to it is that it is a melodic drum, not only a rhythm-keeper — the
player tunes the daayan to the key of the piece, and the same stroke can be made to ring or to
be damped, so a single pair of drums can carry a whole conversation with a soloist. It also suits
me practically: a tabla is easier to keep and to carry than a piano, and the basic bols can be
practised on a table long before I own a set. I know it needs slow daily practice for the fingers to
become independent, and that is the part I would find hardest.

Q3 III. Is there any difference in the choice of music between children and elders? If
yes, why? If no, why not?

Yes — usually there is a difference, but it is a difference of habit and exposure rather than
of taste. Say so first, then give the reasons.

What a good answer needs: a clear position, two or three reasons (not examples
alone), and at least one point on the other side, since the chapter itself ends by
dissolving the divide.

Sample answer: Yes, there is usually a difference, and three things explain most of it. First,
what each generation grew up hearing — my grandmother learnt her songs from the radio
and from bhajans sung at home, while I meet music through a phone screen, so our first-loved
tunes are simply different. Second, what each of us wants music to do: elders often listen for
calm, memory and devotion, while people my age often use music for energy — while studying,
walking, or in a group. Third, the pace of a piece; a khayal unfolds slowly and rewards patience,
and patience is a taste that is built over years.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
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But the difference is smaller than it looks. Both generations respond to melody, to rhythm and
co m
se m.
to a voice that sounds sincere; that is why a film song from 1975 and a fusion track can hold the

o m l a
c ends up tapping his feet to it — which suggests the gapagis created by
same room. In this very chapter Nabin Sharma begins by dismissing his daughter’s music as
‘phoo’ music .and
m
se and closes the moment either side actually listens.
l a
ag
unfamiliarity,

o m
e m . c ag
s
IV. Work in pairs to complete the paragraph given on the next page by choosing the
la Discuss with your teacher whether the following
Q4

a g
correct phrases given in the box.
phrases have a literal meaning or a figurative one. [Box: wearing a look of distress |

com
bite the bullet | found words | lost in his thoughts | bring it up | throw a party |

.
winding up | sweating on | come around] The theatre club was 1. _______ their

m a s emThey had a
l Anil did not want
practice. Anil saw Sunny was 2. _______ and not speaking to anyone.

. co in the morning and since then, Sunny was 3. g
a
sem
disagreement _______.

a
agl
to 4. _______ and disturb Sunny further but he finally decided to 5. _______ and speak to
Sunny. He was sure if he apologised first, his friend would 6. _______. With a lot of
anxiety, he 7. _______ to apologise. And finally, Sunny smiled! Everyone clapped and
m a s
.co agl
asked them to 8. _______ to celebrate.

se m
g l a
a

The completed paragraph reads:

com
m .
m
The theatre club was 1. winding up their practice.
o l a se
g to anyone.
.csaw Sunny was 2. wearing a look of distress and not speaking
a
m
ase
Anil

agl They had a disagreement in the morning and since then, Sunny was 3. lost in his thoughts.

se m
com a
Anil did not want to 4. bring it up and disturb Sunny further
. a g l
m
ase
but he finally decided to 5. bite the bullet and speak to Sunny.

agl
He was sure if he apologised first, his friend would 6. come around.

m
With a lot of anxiety, he 7. found words to apologise.

. co
Everyone clapped and asked them to 8. throw a party to celebrate.
em
m l as
m .co
Left over (not needed): sweating on
a g
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How the choices were fixed: the grammar decides most of them before the
meaning does. Blank 1 follows was, so it needs an -ing form — only winding up and
sweating on fit, and a club at the end of practice is winding up. Blanks 4, 5, 6 and 8 all
follow to, so they need base forms — bring it up, bite the bullet, come around, throw a
party. Blank 7 follows a subject in past narration, so it needs a past verb: found
words. Blanks 2 and 3 both follow was, and the order is fixed by the story: 2 is what
Anil saw on Sunny’s face, 3 is what had been going on inside Sunny since the
morning.

Literal or figurative? Every phrase in the box is figurative — this is the point the exercise is
making before you meet a play full of idiom.

PHRASE IF TAKEN LITERALLY WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS
(FIGURATIVE)

winding up turning a key or handle round and bringing something to an end
round

wearing a look of putting on an expression like a showing unhappiness on the face
distress garment

lost in his thoughts physically unable to find his way so absorbed in thinking that he notices
nothing else

bring it up carry an object upstairs mention or raise a subject in conversation

bite the bullet put a bullet between the teeth face something unpleasant bravely and get it
over with

come around walk round to this side change one’s mind and agree

found words discovered words lying managed at last to say what one wanted to say
somewhere

throw a party hurl a party through the air hold a celebration

sweating on perspiring on top of something working anxiously and hard at something

Tip: all four of these phrases come back in the play — Shruti’s friends notice she is
wearing a look of distress and lost in her thoughts, Peter jokes that she is sweating on
the vi-o-lin, Avinash tells her to throw a party, and Shruti herself decides it is “time to
bite the bullet”. Reading this box first is what lets you hear the joke in Act I.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Check Your Understanding (Act I) — Page 174
Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

COMPREHENSION

Q1 I. Complete the table given below based on Act I of the play. Check your answers
with the teacher. Setting — Where: Iqbal’s room / Description of the room: a small
rack, ................ / On the wall: ............ Children and the instruments they play — 1.
Iqbal: flute 2. .................. 3. .................. 4. .................. Speaker / Words of the Speaker /
Reason — .......... | “Oh ho! Wow Shruti! You are a sensation now! The least you can
do is throw a party!” | ............ .......... | “There is need to worry Iqbal! You don’t know
papa.” | .......... .......... | “That’s the spirit!” | ...........

Every blank can be filled straight from the opening stage direction and the dialogue of Act I.

SETTING
Where: Iqbal’s room
Description of the room: a small rack, and a wooden table
stacked with books
On the wall: posters of the famous Indian flute players Pandit
Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shashank Subramanyam

CHILDREN AND THE 1. Iqbal: flute 2. Avinash: tabla
INSTRUMENTS THEY PLAY 3. Peter: keyboard 4. Shruti: violin

SPEAKER WORDS OF THE REASON
SPEAKER

Avinash “Oh ho! Wow Shruti! He has just heard Iqbal read out the newspaper line praising
You are a sensation Shruti’s performance with her father, and he is teasing her
now! The least you can happily about her sudden fame — a friend’s way of
do is throw a party!” congratulating her and asking her to celebrate.

Shruti “There is need to worry Iqbal has just said “There is no need to worry!” She contradicts
Iqbal! You don’t know him because she alone knows how strict her father is
papa.” about fusion music — he would call playing the violin to
Western tunes “a desecration”. Her friends are being casual
about something she knows is serious.

Peter “That’s the spirit!” Shruti has just promised, “Tonight, at dinner, I promise to
bring this up.” Peter is applauding her decision and
encouraging her to hold on to that courage.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Tip: notice how much the stage direction is doing. The posters of two great flute
players are on Iqbal’s wall, and the room belongs to the flutist — so even the wall
tells you whose room it is and what he loves. In a play you must read the bracketed
directions as carefully as the dialogue.

Q2 II. Do you think Shruti will gather the courage to speak to her father? Give a reason.

Yes, she will speak to him — she has already fixed the time and the place. Act I ends with
her own promise: “Tonight, at dinner, I promise to bring this up.” A character who names the
moment has stopped avoiding it.
Two things in the Act make the promise believable. First, her hesitation was never about
willingness — she says plainly, “I want to give this a try too. I just don’t know how to tell him in
the right way!” The obstacle is method, not nerve, and Iqbal removes it in one line: “All ways are
right ways.” Second, she uses the phrase “time to bite the bullet” — an idiom for facing
something unpleasant deliberately and getting it over with. That is the language of someone
who has decided.

Why the prediction is safe: the friends also lower the price of failure for her.
Avinash asks, “What’s the worst that can happen? He will scold you a little, maybe,”
and Iqbal jokes that he has “a little bit of scolding for breakfast every day!” Once the
worst outcome has been named and laughed at, it stops being frightening. That is
how the scene is built — the laugh at the end of Act I is what makes Act II possible.

Q3 III. What might be Shruti’s father’s reaction? Why?

The likely reaction is a calm, firm refusal rather than a loud one — and refusal not of the
concert but of the kind of music.
Shruti has already described him for us: “He is very strict about these things. He will think it a
desecration of the violin to be played to Western tunes.” The word desecration is the key — it
means disrespect to something sacred, so for Nabin Sharma this will not be a matter of a
schedule or of permission; it will feel like an offence against his art. She adds that he “firmly
believes that Classical Hindustani music, with its ragas and aalaaps, is the only kind of music
that an artist of any worth should play,” which tells us he judges by a single standard.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

So one would expect him to be hurt and disappointed rather than merely angry, and to end
the conversation instead of arguing it out — the reaction of a man who thinks the matter is
beyond discussion. There is also a second possibility worth naming: Avinash predicts “he will
eventually come round,” and a father who is also a teacher may agree to look before judging.

Check it against Act II: both halves of this prediction come true. He is calm and
final — “(calmly but firmly) No is the answer” — and he withdraws rather than
argues: “I think there remains nothing for me to say now.” The sting comes only in
his parting mockery of “ ‘phoo’ music”.

Check Your Understanding (Act II) — Pages 177–178
Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

COMPREHENSION

Q1 I. Complete the summary of Act II by choosing the correct words from the box given
below. There are two extra words that you do not need. Check your answers with
the teacher. [Box: disapproval | plea | absent-minded | setback | surprised |
scolded | courage | firm | clash | relief] Shruti seemed 1. _______ during dinner. She
finally gathered the 2. _______ to inform her father, Nabin, about her wish to
participate in an upcoming Indo-Western fusion concert. Nabin reacted negatively,
expressing 3. _______ of fusion music and dismissed the idea. Despite Shruti’s 4. _______
to him to attend a practice before deciding, Nabin was 5. _______ in his decision.
Shruti’s mother, Leela, 6. _______ her for not seeking permission earlier. The tension
highlights the 7. _______ between traditional and contemporary musical preferences
within the family. Despite the 8. _______, Shruti promises not to hide again and is
urged to go to bed by her mother.

The completed summary reads:

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
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co m
e m.
Shruti seemed 1. absent-minded during dinner.
m l as
.co
She finally gathered the 2. courage to inform her father…
m a g
l a se
g
Nabin reacted negatively, expressing 3. disapproval of fusion music…
aDespite Shruti’s 4. plea to him to attend a practice before deciding,

co m
. ag
Nabin was 5. firm in his decision.
em
g l as
Shruti’s mother, Leela, 6. scolded her for not seeking permission earlier.
a
The tension highlights the 7. clash between traditional and contemporary musical

co m
m.
preferences…

m as e
.co l
Despite the 8. setback, Shruti promises not to hide again…
a g
se m
Two extra words not needed: surprised, relief
g l a
a
om a s
agl
How each word is proved from the Act:
. c
s e m says Shruti “is still stuck on the last bite
absent-minded — the stage direction

a gla
and is seemingly lost in thoughts”, and Nabin has to say, “staring at the dosa is
not going to make it disappear.”
courage — she has to force herself to begin: “I … er … was finding the right words
co m
m .
m as e
to say something to you.” The blank follows gathered the, which collocates with

.co
courage.
a g l
se m disapproval — “I never thought any of my students, let alone my own child,
g l a
a would lose their sense of musicality to such an extent.”
plea — “Please papa! I request you to consider. Just attend the practice only once
se m
com g l a
.
and then you can decide!” A plea is an earnest request; the grammar (“Shruti’s ___
m a
ase
to him”) needs a noun.

agl
firm — “(calmly but firmly) No is the answer.”
scolded — “Shruti! Why did you have to get yourself into this without your
father’s knowledge in the first place!”
. c om
s e m
clash — the whole Act is Hindustani classical set against Indo-Western fusion

. com
inside one household.
a gla
asem
l
setback — the permission is refused, so the group cannot perform; “All our
a g
c
practice will go down the drain.”
m .
m a s e
agl
The two rejected words fail on sense, not on grammar: nobody in the Act is
. co
m
surprised — Shruti predicted this reaction in Act I — and there is no relief at the
ase
g l
end, only a promise made under a cloud.
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 II. Will Shruti’s father go for the rehearsal? Support your answer with a reason.

At the end of Act II it looks certain that he will not — and yet he does. A good answer
should say both things, because the Act is written to make the refusal sound final.
The evidence for ‘no’ is heavy. He answers her request with sarcasm: “(with a slight mocking tone)
Sure, there’ll be a practice, for ‘phoo’ music when making noise starts needing practice.” He has
already closed the subject — “I think there remains nothing for me to say now” — and he leaves
the room “with a start”. He is not refusing a request; he is refusing to treat the question as a real
one.
But two things in the Act quietly point the other way. Shruti’s appeal is unusually shrewd — she
does not ask him to approve, only to look: “Just attend the practice only once and then you can
decide!” That is an offer no teacher can dismiss for ever. And the person left on stage with Shruti
is Leela, who scolds her but does not take Nabin’s side about the music at all. In Act III we learn
what she did with that silence: “I must admit it was Leela who opened my eyes.”

Why the playwright arranges it this way: if Nabin had wavered in Act II there
would be no drama left. His mockery has to be complete so that his applause in Act
III — “Wah, how soulful!” — lands with full force. The reversal is earned by how
absolute the refusal was.

Q3 III. Do you think Shruti and her parents would understand one another? If yes,
why? If no, why not?

Yes — because none of the three actually disagrees about what matters. They disagree
about a form, not about a value.
Look at what each one wants. Nabin wants his daughter to take her art seriously: “Work on your
art and everything will follow.” Shruti wants exactly the same thing, and says so in Act III: “I will
always take my art seriously no matter what I do.” Even in Act I, when she is hiding the concert
from him, she insists, “I don’t want papa to feel that I don’t care about his opinions, because I
do.” Two people who share a standard can always be brought to understand each other; the
argument is about which music meets the standard.
The family also has a translator. Leela is impatient with the concealment — “Or should I call it
‘practice classes’!” — but she is the one who reminds Nabin of his own history and gets him to
the rehearsal. And Nabin turns out to be capable of admitting error in plain words: “I
underestimated the power of our own music… I realise that my fears were baseless.”

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The one real obstacle, and why it falls: the obstacle is not stubbornness but
unfamiliarity. Nabin has never heard the group; he is judging a category, not a
performance. The moment he listens, the category disappears and he hears a raga
being played accurately — “You did not lose sight of the notes of the raga even
once.” The play’s argument is that understanding in such families comes from
exposure, not from argument.

Check Your Understanding (Act III) — Pages 181–182
Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

COMPREHENSION TRUE OR FALSE

Q1 I. Work in pairs. Identify the true statements. Check the answers with your teacher.
1. During the rehearsal, Shruti’s parents enter the room and are overjoyed at her
performance. _______

True.
The stage direction is explicit: “Slowly, her parents become engrossed and Shruti’s father taps
his feet and is seen evidently enjoying… Nabin claps furiously. He wears an expression of pride
on his face.” Their words confirm the delight — Nabin: “Wah, how soulful! You all have done a
wonderful job!”; Leela: “Oh yes children. You all were amazing!”

Note the small physical detail: he taps his feet before he says a word. Tapping the
feet is the body keeping the taal — the involuntary reaction of a trained musician
who has been caught by the music. The playwright convinces us of his change
through an action, before any dialogue admits it.

Q2 2. Shruti initially considers telling her friends that she can’t join them for the
performance, after practising one last time. _______

True.
It is stated in her aside at the start of Act III — a speech the other characters on stage are
understood not to hear: “(Aside) Oh, how much I enjoy performing this piece. Perhaps I can
practise one last time and soon after that I will tell them that I can’t join them for the
performance.”

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the aside is placed exactly there: it tells the audience that Shruti has quietly
obeyed her father, so that when her parents walk in unannounced the scene carries
real tension — we are the only ones who know that this rehearsal was meant to be
her last. It also shows her decency: she is not defying him behind his back.

Q3 3. Shruti’s father expressed that she had sung a few notes incorrectly during her
performance. _______

False — and it is wrong twice over.

Shruti played the violin; she did not sing. Singing belongs to her father’s family of vocalists,
which is a separate strand of the story.
He praised her accuracy rather than faulting it: “You too Shruti! You did not lose sight of the
notes of the raga even once and performed it to excellence.”

Tip: in a true-or-false exercise, check the verb as carefully as the claim. Swapping
‘played’ for ‘sung’ is exactly the kind of small substitution that makes a statement
false.

Q4 4. Shruti’s father had followed the family’s tradition of being a violinist and worked
very hard to achieve all that he did. _______

False in its first half, true in its second — so the statement as a whole is false.
Leela tells Shruti the opposite: “Your own father, Shruti, had to go against his family’s wishes
to play the violin. His was a family of vocalists. Your grandfather, his father, and your uncles
were all vocalists belonging to a highly traditional school.” Nabin did not follow the family
tradition; he broke it, and “Your grandfather saw this choice as a kind of betrayal of family
values and tradition.”
The second half is accurate — “your father worked his fingers to the bone and see where the
violin got him” — but a statement is true only if all of it is true.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this fact is the hinge of the play: it makes Nabin’s objection to Shruti an exact
repetition of his own father’s objection to him. He is playing his father’s part without
noticing, which is why Leela can change his mind simply by reminding him: “I had
forgotten my own past.” The chapter’s theme of tradition versus new forms is not
stated as a lesson — it is built into the family’s history and repeated one generation
later.

Q5 5. Shruti’s mother helped her husband realise why he should support their
daughter. _______

True.
Nabin says it himself, and insists on the credit going to her: “There is no need to thank me child.
I must admit it was Leela who opened my eyes. I had forgotten my own past. It is your mother
you should thank.”

Look at how Leela works: she never argues about fusion music at all. In Act II she
scolds Shruti for the concealment; then, off stage, she reminds Nabin of his own
youth. She changes his mind by changing what he is looking at — not the concert,
but himself. That is why she is the quietest character in the play and the one who
moves it.

Q6 6. Shruti’s father accepts that he underrated the potential of classical music. _______

True.
His admission is in almost these words: “I underestimated the power of our own music. I was
afraid you would be lost to us. I realise that my fears were baseless.” ‘Our own music’ here
means the Hindustani classical tradition he has spent his life in.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
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co m
m.
What exactly did he underestimate? Not its beauty — he never doubted that. He

m l a se
underestimated its strength. He had assumed that classical training was fragile, that
o
.c who played fusion would be diluted and “lost atogus”. What the
m
a young musician

l a se shows him is the reverse: Shruti carries the raga intact into the fusion piece
g “did not lose sight of the notes of the raga even once”. The tradition turns out to
rehearsal
a—
be strong enough to travel. That is why his fear was “baseless”, and why he can say
co m
.
“each bay, its own wind” without feeling he has surrendered anything.
em ag
g l as
a
Answer at a glance: the true statements are 1, 2, 5 and 6. Statements 3 and 4 are
false.
co m
em.
m l as
m .co a g
ase Reflection — Pages 182–184
agl
Critical
Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

m a s
.co agl
EXTRACT-BASED ANALYSIS

a s em
Q1
a
I. Read the extracts givenglbelow and answer the questions that follow. 1. Shruti:
There is need to worry Iqbal! You don’t know papa. He is very strict about these
things. He will think it a desecration of the violin to be played to Western tunes.
co m
m .
se
Papa firmly believes that Classical Hindustani music, with its ragas and aalaaps, is

o m l a
.cfeel that I don’t care about his opinions, because I do. aIt’sg just that I want to give
the only kind of music that an artist of any worth should play. I don’t want papa to

se m
g l a this a try too. I just don’t know how to tell him in the right way! Iqbal: All ways are
a right ways, Shruti. He is your father, he will understand. (i) Select the option that

se m
com a
correctly identifies Shruti’s situation. A. confident B. indifferent C. content D. in a
dilemma
. a g l
m
ase
ANSWER agl
D. in a dilemma.

co m
m .
A dilemma is a situation in which a person is pulled between two courses, both of which matter.

m as e
.co l
The extract shows exactly that pull, in consecutive sentences:
a g
se m
g l a
a
Pull one → “I don’t want papa to feel that I don’t care about his opinions, because I do.”
.c
Pull two → “It’s just that I want to give this a try too.”
s e m
m a
m . co
The result → “I just don’t know how to tell him in the right way!”
e agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Why the other three fail — check each against the words:

A. confident — impossible; her last sentence is an admission that she does not
know what to do, and she opens with “There is need to worry.”
B. indifferent — the opposite of the text. Indifference means not caring; she says
“because I do”.
C. content — content means satisfied and at peace. She is contradicting a friend
who has just told her not to worry.

The little word ‘too’ in “I want to give this a try too” is the proof of the dilemma: she
wants the new thing in addition to, not instead of, her father’s music.

Q2 (ii) What does Shruti mean by ‘the right way’, in the sentence, “I just don’t know
how to tell him in the right way!”?

By ‘the right way’ Shruti means a way of telling her father about the fusion concert that will
not make him feel his art and his opinions are being rejected — the words, the tone and the
moment that would let her ask for something new without it sounding like disrespect.
The extract itself defines the danger she is trying to avoid. She says he “will think it a
desecration of the violin to be played to Western tunes”. Desecration is a word for spoiling
something sacred; so any careless announcement will land on him as an insult to his life’s work.
She also says, “I don’t want papa to feel that I don’t care about his opinions.” Put the two
together and ‘the right way’ becomes clear: a way that says ‘I want to add this’ and not ‘I am
leaving what you taught me’.

Why this matters for the play: her difficulty is one of communication, not of will —
and Iqbal answers it by denying the problem exists (“All ways are right ways”). Act II
then proves both of them partly right: no phrasing would have prevented Nabin’s
refusal, and yet what finally changes him is not a better sentence at all, but hearing
the music. In this family, the ‘right way’ turns out to be a rehearsal, not a speech.

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Q3 (iii) Complete the following with a suitable reason. We can say that the extract
reflects the generational gap in understanding art and tradition because ____________.

Completed sentence: We can say that the extract reflects the generational gap in
understanding art and tradition because the father judges by a single, closed standard —
Shruti reports that he “firmly believes that Classical Hindustani music, with its ragas and
aalaaps, is the only kind of music that an artist of any worth should play” — while Shruti,
of the younger generation, sees fusion as one more use of the same trained hands and
simply wants “to give this a try too”.

Where the gap actually lies: not in how much each generation loves music, but in
whether the boundary of ‘real music’ is fixed or open. For Nabin the violin has one
legitimate repertoire, and stepping outside it is desecration — a word from the world
of the sacred, where things are pure or spoilt. For Shruti the violin is an instrument,
and playing Western tunes on it is an experiment. Two people can use the same
word ‘music’ and mean a rule in one case and a possibility in the other. That
difference — inherited certainty against a wish to try — is what ‘generational gap’
names here.

Alternative wording that would also be accepted: “…because Shruti has to hide a
rehearsal from a father who would treat it as an insult, showing that the two
generations cannot even discuss new forms of art openly.”

Q4 (iv) Explain how Iqbal’s words were meant as an assurance to Shruti.

Iqbal says, “All ways are right ways, Shruti. He is your father, he will understand.” Both halves are
designed to remove a fear, and they work on different fears.

“All ways are right ways” answers the exact problem she has just stated. She is frozen
because she is hunting for a perfect method of telling him. Iqbal denies that a wrong
method exists — which means she cannot fail at the part she is afraid of. It takes the burden
off how she speaks and leaves only the fact that she must speak.
“He is your father, he will understand” answers the fear of the outcome. It moves the
ground from music, where Nabin is a strict authority, to the relationship, where he is simply
a parent. Iqbal is reminding her that she is not approaching a Principal of a music school;
she is approaching her father.

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Why it is persuasive coming from Iqbal: he is the one who read out the newspaper
praise a moment earlier, and later he laughs that he has “a little bit of scolding for
breakfast every day.” He is not solemn about elders’ anger, and his lightness is itself
the assurance — it tells Shruti that the thing she has built up in her mind is ordinary
and survivable. The proof that it worked is immediate: she replies, “You are right
guys; I guess it is time to bite the bullet.”

Q5 (v) Fill in the blank with a phrase from the extract. The critics argued that only films
which provoke thoughtful discussion are _________.

of any worth.

The critics argued that only films which provoke thoughtful discussion are of any worth.

How to locate it: read the new sentence and the extract for the same shape, not the
same subject. The extract runs: “…is the only kind of music that an artist of any
worth should play.” The test sentence has the identical structure — only X qualifies
as genuine — so the phrase that carries the idea of ‘genuine, deserving to be taken
seriously’ is of any worth. It fits grammatically too: after are, English needs a
complement, and ‘of any worth’ is an adjectival phrase.

Tip: in this kind of question the answer must be lifted exactly as it stands in the
extract. Writing ‘worthy’ or ‘worthwhile’ would be marked wrong even though the
meaning is close, because the instruction says a phrase from the extract.

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Q6 2. Nabin: I underestimated the power of our own music. I was afraid you would be
lost to us. I realise that my fears were baseless. After all each bay, its own wind. I
trust you Shruti and I will root for your group at the concert! (Shruti hugs both of
her parents) (i) Select the suitable option to complete the sentence. Nabin’s
breakthrough in his understanding of artistic freedom, highlights a bridge between
______. A. personal ambition and professional success B. traditional values and
modern expressions C. strict discipline and casual learning D. historical techniques
and futuristic innovations

B. traditional values and modern expressions.
The two banks that Nabin’s sentence joins are named inside it. “Our own music” is the tradition
— Hindustani classical, the ragas and aalaaps he has taught all his life. The thing he had feared
was Shruti being “lost to us” in a modern form, Indo-Western fusion. When he says his fears
were baseless, he is saying the modern expression does not cost him the traditional value; the
two can stand together. “Each bay, its own wind” then extends it into a principle — every artist
may find a different direction and still belong to the same sea.

Why the other options miss:

A — the extract says nothing about careers or success; Nabin has in fact warned
Shruti against chasing exposure (“familiarity breeds contempt”).
C — nobody in the play argues for casual learning. Shruti’s promise is the
opposite: “I will always take my art seriously no matter what I do.”
D — this sounds close, but ‘futuristic innovations’ is about technology and
technique. The quarrel in the play was never about technique; it was about values
— what an artist of worth is permitted to play.

Q7 (ii) Fill in the blank with a suitable phrase. The extract uses the word ‘lost’ both in
the sense of losing _________ and physical separation.

…in the sense of losing her musical roots (her classical training and identity as a classical
musician) and physical separation.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
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co m
m.
How the double sense works: Nabin says, “I was afraid you would be lost to us.”

m as e
l
The phrase carries two weights at once.
.co a g
a s em
Losing an identity: the fear that Shruti would drift away from the tradition she

a gl was trained in — the same fear he stated in Act II, that a musician could “lose
their sense of musicality”, and that an individual style could be drowned “in the
hubbub of an orchestra”.
o m
e
. c
m fear of a daughter moving away — into ag
s
Physical separation: the plain family
another circle, another kind ofla
ag
life — so that she is no longer ‘ours’.

This is why the line is moving. His objection to fusion music was never really musical;

. c om
underneath the aesthetic argument was a father afraid of losing his child. That is
also why hearing her play cured it — she was audibly still with them,em
s
raga intact.

. com a gla
a s em acceptable phrasings: “losing her classical identity”, “losing her sense of
a gl Other
musicality”, “losing her connection with her own tradition”.

m a s
em
.co agl
a s
Q8
a gl her parents’, which word from those given below, does
(iii) In the line, ‘Shruti hugs
not show what it conveys? reconciliation | harmony | duty | acceptance |
understanding
co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
a s em
gl The other four are all carried by the hug. It comes immediately after a quarrel has been settled,
duty.

a
so it shows reconciliation; it ends a scene of conflict between two kinds of music, so it shows
se m
com g l a
. a
harmony; her father has just said “I trust you Shruti”, so it shows acceptance; and his
m
ase
admission “I realise that my fears were baseless” is exactly understanding.

a gl
Why ‘duty’ is the odd one out: duty means an action performed because it is owed

co
— an obligation. This hug is spontaneous and unasked for. Nobody instructs Shruti
m
m .
e
to embrace her parents; the stage direction places it right after the father has
m l as
.co g
surrendered his position, and it comes from relief and affection. A gesture done out

em a
s
of duty would prove nothing about feeling, and the whole force of the moment is
l a
ag that feeling has replaced argument.
c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Tip for ‘odd one out’ questions: do not look for the word with the most different
meaning — look for the one that the situation cannot support. All five are positive
words about family; only one of them describes an obligation rather than an
emotion.

Q9 (iv) What can be inferred about Shruti’s future in music following her father’s
expression of trust and support?

The inference is that Shruti will now be able to work in both traditions openly, and that the split
which shaped the whole play has simply stopped existing for her.
Three things in Act III support it:

She keeps her classical foundation. Her father’s praise is technical, not sentimental: “You
did not lose sight of the notes of the raga even once and performed it to excellence.” He has
certified that fusion has not damaged her training — so there is no reason for her to choose.
She gains resources instead of losing them. “I was planning to offer the children the music
room… You’ll have more equipment there and will be able to practise regularly.” The Principal
of Sangeetika Music School is now backing the group; a hidden after-school practice
becomes a properly equipped one.
She no longer has to hide. “I will root for your group at the concert!” and her own promise
— “I will always take my art seriously no matter what I do” — mean her energy goes into the
music rather than into concealment.

Reading it against the play’s pattern: Nabin’s own career is the model for hers. He
broke from a family of vocalists, “worked his fingers to the bone”, and “see where the
violin got him.” The play sets Shruti on the same curve one generation on — a
classically trained musician who widens the instrument’s range and is judged, in the
end, by whether the art is taken seriously. The phrase he leaves her with, “each bay,
its own wind”, is a licence to find her own direction.

Q10 (v) Identify the phrase that refers to the uniqueness of each artist’s journey and
style.

“Each bay, its own wind.”

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How the image works: a coastline is one continuous sea, but every bay in it is
shaped differently and catches the wind at its own angle. Applied to artists: they
belong to one tradition, yet each takes it in the direction his or her own
temperament allows. It is a metaphor drawn from the natural world, and it does
two jobs at once — it grants Shruti her own path, and it quietly excuses Nabin, since
his own youthful turn to the violin was simply his wind.

Notice the timing. He uses this saying only after admitting that he had “forgotten
my own past”. A man who insisted in Act II on “the only kind of music that an artist of
any worth should play” now offers a proverb about difference. The change of
imagery — from a single permitted road to a coastline of many bays — is how the
play shows the change of mind.

Q11 II. 1. Justify the title ‘Twin Melodies’. How does the play explore the theme of
tradition and modernity?

The title is exact, because the play is built on pairs that are not rivals. ‘Twin’ says the two
melodies are born together and belong together; they are not an original and a copy.
The title works on at least four levels:

Two kinds of music. Hindustani classical, with its “ragas and aalaaps”, and Indo-Western
fusion — flute, tabla, keyboard and violin in one piece. By the end they are not two rival
musics but one performance: Nabin himself certifies that the raga survived intact inside the
fusion piece.
Two generations. Nabin, who defied a family of vocalists to take up the violin, and Shruti,
who defies a violinist to take up fusion. Their stories are twins — the same rebellion, one
generation apart. That is why Leela can end the conflict simply by narrating the first one.
Two voices inside Shruti. Her aside — “Perhaps I can practise one last time and soon after
that I will tell them that I can’t join them” — is the sound of duty and desire running side by
side in the same girl.
Two ways of being right. Nabin’s discipline (“Work on your art and everything will follow”)
and Shruti’s curiosity are both defensible. The play refuses to cancel either.

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How the theme of tradition and modernity is handled: the playwright never lets
‘modern’ mean ‘easy’. The fusion group rehearses seriously, Shruti’s classical
accuracy is what earns the praise, and her promise is “I will always take my art
seriously no matter what I do.” Equally, tradition is never made ridiculous — Nabin’s
objections are given his own dignified vocabulary (desecration, musicality, familiarity
breeds contempt). The conflict is resolved not by one side defeating the other but by
an act of listening: he hears the music and his category collapses. His two closing
sentences hold the whole theme — “I underestimated the power of our own music”
(tradition is strong enough to travel) and “each bay, its own wind” (every artist may
travel differently).

Q12 II. 2. What are the different perspectives of Peter, Iqbal, and Avinash regarding
confronting figures of authority? How do their attitudes towards Shruti’s dilemma
with her father provide insight into their own characters and values?

All three friends push Shruti in the same direction, but each gives a different reason — and the
reason is the character.

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FRIEND WHAT HE SAYS HIS VIEW OF WHAT IT SHOWS ABOUT HIM
CONFRONTING
AUTHORITY

Peter “Does that mean you Practical and The problem-solver. He offers a
have still not told your managing — tell them workable half-truth rather than a
parents about these enough to keep the confrontation, and he is the one who
practises? Just tell them peace ends Act I with encouragement. His
you come for the instinct is to keep the group
practice from 4 to 5!” … functioning; he also opens the scene
later, “That’s the spirit!” with “That was a good rehearsal.
Well done guys!”, the voice of the
organiser.

Iqbal “All ways are right ways, Trusting and light — The optimist. He believes
Shruti. He is your father, authority is relationships are stronger than
he will understand.” … “I affectionate, and its disagreements, and he defuses fear
basically have a little bit anger is survivable with a joke about himself. His
of scolding for breakfast humour is generous, not mocking:
every day!” he lowers the stakes by admitting he
is scolded daily.

Avinash “You are making matters Direct and realistic — The plain speaker. He is the only
worse for yourself by silence costs more than one who names Shruti’s mistake to
not talking to him. the confrontation her face, yet he softens it with a
What’s the worst that would forecast. He also gives the honest
can happen? He will calculation — a scolding now against
scold you a little, maybe. a bigger problem later.
But he will eventually
come round.”

Why the trio matters to the play: together they supply the courage Shruti cannot
generate alone, and the order in which they speak is a small piece of craft — Peter
offers the easy escape, Iqbal removes the fear of the manner, and Avinash removes
the fear of the outcome. Only after all three does she say, “I guess it is time to bite
the bullet.” Their values are worth naming too: none of them suggests she perform
without permission, and none mocks her father. What they defend is talking to him,
not going around him — which is precisely why the play can end in reconciliation
rather than rebellion.

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co m
m.
II. 3. Analyse the character of Nabin Sharma. How does his attitude towards music
e
Q13

m l as
.co
evolve throughout the play?

a g
se m
g l a
a

Nabin Sharma is a serious artist and a serious teacher whose strictness comes from

m
reverence, not from vanity — and the play’s work is to show him that his reverence had
. co ag
m
turned into fear.

l a se
ag is the answer” arrives before Shruti has finished her
What he is like at the start. His authority is quiet. He does not shout; the stage direction says
he speaks “calmly but firmly”, and “No
sentence. His standards are stated as principles, not preferences: “one performance in every six

. c om
months. More than that, familiarity breeds contempt. Work on your art and everything will

m a
follow.” Even his objection to a group performance is artistic — “To drown your
s emindividual style in
the hubbub
. a gl
coof an orchestra is hardly a wise choice.” His vocabulary (desecration, musicality,

a s emis that of a man who has thought about these questions for decades.
iterated)
l he goes wrong. He judges a category he has not heard. His cruellest line — “Sure,
agWhere
s
there’ll be a practice, for ‘phoo’ music when making noise starts needing practice” — is sarcasm

om a
. c agl
about music he has never listened to, and the stage direction marks it: “with a slight mocking

s e m of holding it: “I think there remains nothing for me
tone”. He also shuts the conversation instead

a g la but a father’s fear, which he confesses only later: “I was
to say now.” Underneath is not snobbery
afraid you would be lost to us.”
How he changes. The change is staged in three steps, and only the last is verbal:
co m
m .
m as e
.co
1. He listens — “Slowly, her parents become engrossed…”
a g l
a s e2.mHis body agrees before he does — “Shruti’s father taps his feet and is seen evidently
a gl
m
enjoying.”
a se
. com
3. Only then the words — “Wah, how soulful!… You did not lose sight of the notes of the
a g l
m
ase
agl
raga even once.”

m
What he becomes. Generous in practical ways — he offers the children the music room and its
. co
m
equipment — and honest about himself: “I underestimated the power of our own music… I

o m l a se
realise that my fears were baseless… I had forgotten my own past.” He even refuses the credit:
“It.c a g thank.”
se m was Leela who opened my eyes… It is your mother you should

a
agl c
.
The arc in one sentence: he moves from a single permitted road (“the only kind of

s e m
m a
music that an artist of any worth should play”) to a coastline of many bays (“each

m . co
bay, its own wind”) — and the mover is not argument but hearing. That is why the
e agl
l as
play can respect him at both ends: what changes is his information, not his integrity.
g
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Q14 II. 4. How does the play use Shruti’s internal conflict to explore the theme of duty
towards family versus personal passion?

Shruti’s conflict is placed at the centre of every Act, and the playwright keeps it internal — she
never once argues that her father is wrong.
Act I — the conflict is named. Both sides are in a single speech: “I don’t want papa to feel that I
don’t care about his opinions, because I do. It’s just that I want to give this a try too.” That
sentence is the whole theme. The word too shows she is not choosing between duty and
passion; she is trying to hold both, which is what makes the situation painful rather than simple.
Her guilt shows physically as well — “Shruti wears a look of distress on her face” while the boys
are celebrating her newspaper review.
Act II — duty wins, and costs her. She asks permission instead of going ahead, and when
refused she does not defy him. Notice what she regrets afterwards: “I know. I should have asked
him.” She blames herself even in her own defeat. Her only complaint is for others — “If he
doesn’t let me participate, our group won’t be able to perform. All our practice will go down the
drain.”
Act III — the private cost is spoken aloud. Her aside is the play’s most honest line: “(Aside) Oh,
how much I enjoy performing this piece. Perhaps I can practise one last time and soon after that
I will tell them that I can’t join them for the performance.” Passion and duty are in the same
breath — the enjoyment and the surrender.

Why the aside is the right device here: a soliloquy-like aside lets the audience hear
what the character will not say to anyone on stage. Because we alone know she has
decided to withdraw, we watch the rehearsal with a knowledge nobody in the room
has. That is dramatic irony working in Shruti’s favour — when Nabin claps, we
understand better than he does what his approval has just saved.

The resolution, and why it is not a cheat: the play does not solve the conflict by
letting passion defeat duty. It removes the conflict by proving the two were never
opposed — Shruti’s classical duty (“did not lose sight of the notes of the raga”) is
exactly what makes her fusion playing good, and she seals it with “I will always take
my art seriously no matter what I do.” Her own promise to her mother — “won’t hide
from you again” — settles the family half.

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Q15 II. 5. Evaluate the effectiveness of the play’s conclusion. Does it realistically
address the conflicts presented?

The conclusion is effective, and largely realistic — but its realism depends on one
condition the play is careful to supply: Nabin’s own hidden history. Take the case both ways
before deciding.
What makes it convincing:

The change is caused, not announced. Nabin does not simply soften; he is made to listen,
and his conversion happens in his feet before it happens in his mouth — “taps his feet and is
seen evidently enjoying”. A change we watch is more believable than one we are told about.
It has a prepared cause. Leela’s revelation that Nabin defied his own family of vocalists is
not invented at the last moment for convenience; it explains everything he has said. His
admission “I had forgotten my own past” makes the reversal psychologically exact rather
than lucky.
The praise he gives is professional, and therefore in character. He does not say ‘I was harsh’;
he says the raga was not lost. A strict teacher yields on evidence, and evidence is what he is
given.
He gives credit away — “It is your mother you should thank” — and offers something
concrete, the music room. Support that costs him something is more credible than support
that costs nothing.

Where it is convenient: the reversal is quick, and it all happens in one rehearsal. A man who
called the group’s work “ ‘phoo’ music” hours earlier is applauding it by the end of the same
short Act; a real change of taste usually takes longer and needs more than one hearing. The
mother’s persuasion, the hardest work in the play, happens off stage, so we never see the
resistance she had to overcome. And Shruti is never made to pay for the concealment — Leela’s
scolding is the only consequence.

Verdict: effective, with a reservation. As a short school play its job is to dramatise a
conflict and resolve it in three Acts, and it does so honestly: nobody is humiliated,
both traditions keep their dignity, and the reconciliation is produced by listening
rather than by winning. The compression of time is a limitation of the form rather
than a fault in the argument — and the playwright covers it by making the cause of
the change something that existed long before the play began.

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Q16 II. 6. Assess how well the role of cultural diversity contributes to the storyline of
the play.

Cultural diversity in Twin Melodies is not decoration — it is the machinery of the plot, and it
works at three levels.
1. In the group itself. The four children are Shruti, Avinash, Iqbal and Peter — names from
different communities of India — and their instruments come from different worlds: flute and
tabla from the Indian tradition, keyboard from the Western, violin standing in both. Nothing in
the play remarks on their names, and that silence is the point: the mixture is treated as ordinary.
It is the adults, not the children, who see a boundary at all.
2. In the music. The play opens on “a beautiful Indo-Western fusion music piece in its
crescendo” — diversity is the first thing the audience hears, before a word is spoken. And the
conflict is a genuine cultural argument, not a misunderstanding: Nabin’s belief that Hindustani
classical is “the only kind of music that an artist of any worth should play” is a real position, held
by real musicians, and the play gives it his own dignified vocabulary rather than a caricature.
3. Inside the tradition itself. This is the subtlest use. Leela reveals that the violin “had not yet
been incorporated into classical Indian music” when Nabin took it up — so the instrument he
now defends as sacred was itself once a foreign import absorbed into the Indian system.
Diversity is shown to be how a tradition has always grown, not a threat arriving from outside it.

How well does it work? Very well, for one structural reason: the diversity is not
resolved by making everyone the same. At the end the fusion group keeps playing
fusion, Nabin keeps his classical standards, and the raga survives inside the fusion
piece. The play’s image for this is “each bay, its own wind” — one sea, many
directions. The chapter’s wider material supports the same idea: the yazh of ancient
Tamil music in the listening task, indigenous instruments of bamboo and gourd in
Learning Beyond the Text, and the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura in Paraguay. The
chapter keeps widening the circle of what counts as music.

Vocabulary and Structures in Context — Pages 184–188

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

WORD WORK GRAMMAR

Q1 I. Read the highlighted word given in the brackets. SHRUTI (Aside): Oh, how much I
enjoy performing this piece. Perhaps I can practise one last time and soon after
that I will tell them that I can’t join them for the performance. 1. What is ‘aside’
used for? (i) enables characters to talk about the story (ii) shows what a character
thinks or feels (iii) makes a direct link between the audience and the character (iv)
(i), (ii), and (iii)

(iv) (i), (ii), and (iii).
The book’s own definition covers all three functions: “Aside is a theatrical technique or dramatic
device where a character directly addresses the audience. Typically, it is understood that the
other characters on stage are unaware of this speech. The character may explicitly speak to the
audience, whether in character or out, or convey an unspoken thought.” Test Shruti’s aside
against each option:

OPTION DOES HER PROOF FROM THE LINE
ASIDE DO IT?

(i) talk about the Yes “Perhaps I can practise one last time and soon after that I will
story tell them that I can’t join them” — it supplies a plot fact nobody
on stage knows.

(ii) show thoughts Yes “Oh, how much I enjoy performing this piece” — her private
or feelings feeling, admitted to no character.

(iii) link audience Yes She turns from the group and speaks past them, to us. For
and character those seconds we are her only confidants.

Why the playwright needs it here: Shruti cannot say this to Iqbal, Avinash and
Peter — it would stop the rehearsal, and the rest of Act III depends on that rehearsal
happening. The aside lets us hold information the characters lack, which is the
definition of dramatic irony. When her father starts clapping, we feel the reversal
more sharply than anyone on stage does, because we alone knew this was meant to
be her last practice.

Do not confuse an aside with a soliloquy: in a soliloquy the character is alone on
stage and thinks aloud; in an aside other characters are present but are understood
not to hear. Shruti’s friends are right there — so it is an aside.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
II. Read the following words from the text. Ahem ahem, I … er… Now, select the
e
Q2

com2. to increase clarity 3. to provide confidence l as
correct answer for the question given below. Why are they used? 1. to fill gaps while
g
. a
em
speaking

a s
a gl

m
1. to fill gaps while speaking.
. co ag
e m
The book’s box defines them: “Non-lexical fillers are words or sounds used in speech, like ‘uh’ or

g l as
‘um’ to fill pauses while a speaker gathers their thoughts or transitions between ideas.”
a that:
Both examples in the play do exactly

“Ahem ahem” — Iqbal clears his throat before reading the newspaper aloud, holding the
co m
se m.
group’s attention for a second while he builds up to the announcement.

o m l a
g … to you papa.”
.c I … er … was finding the right words to say something toayou
“I … er …” — Shruti stalls in the middle of the hardest sentence she has ever had to say: “Yes,

se m
actually

g l a
a Why the other two are wrong: fillers reduce clarity rather than increasing it — they

m a s
agl
add sound without adding meaning, which is why they are called non-lexical. And

m .co
se
they do not provide confidence; they are usually a symptom of the opposite. Shruti’s

g l a
“er” is there precisely because she is nervous. What they genuinely do is buy the
a
speaker a moment of thinking time and keep the turn from being taken by someone

m
else.

. co
e m
m l as
.co a g
Did you know? Fillers are one of the ways a playwright makes written dialogue

s m spoken. Read Shruti’s sentence without the “er” and the ellipses and it
esound
a
gl becomes a smooth, prepared statement — and the fear disappears from it.
a
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 29 of 101

Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 II. Now, choose suitable non-lexical fillers given in the box to describe the
emoticons 1 to 4. There is an extra word you do not need. [Box: whew | err | arrgh |
hmmm | ahem-ahem] [Emoticons on page 185: 1 — a face yelling, mouth wide open,
both hands thrown up beside the head; 2 — a face with eyes squeezed shut and a
fist at the mouth, with motion lines showing a cough; 3 — a grinning face wiping its
brow with the back of its hand, eyes rolled upward; 4 — a face with one hand under
the chin and an eyebrow raised, looking upward.]

EMOTICON WHAT THE PICTURE SHOWS FILLER THE FEELING IT STANDS FOR

1 Mouth wide open in a yell, eyes arrgh frustration, alarm, exasperation —
staring, both hands flung up beside the sound of ‘I can’t bear this!’
the head

2 Eyes squeezed shut, fist held to the ahem- clearing the throat — to get
mouth, short lines showing a cough ahem attention, or to cover an awkward
pause

3 Grinning, eyes rolled up, the back whew relief — a difficulty has just
of the hand wiping the forehead passed

4 Hand under the chin, one eyebrow hmmm thinking it over, weighing a choice,
raised, gaze turned upward mild doubt

Extra word not needed: err

How to separate ‘err’ from ‘hmmm’, since both mark a pause: err (or er) is a
stalling sound — it is made while you hunt for the next word, as Shruti does at the
dinner table. Hmmm is a considering sound — it means you have understood and
are now judging. The face in picture 4 has a hand on the chin and a raised brow: that
is judging, not word-hunting. The mother in this chapter’s listening transcript uses it
in exactly that way — “Hmmm… perhaps watching videos about the playing of this
instrument might work.”

Tip: read each filler aloud and notice what your face does. Fillers are closer to
gestures than to words, which is why they can be matched with emoticons at all.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q4 III. Read the following words from the text and their meanings. • notes—a single
sound at a certain pitch, usually shown as a symbol on music sheet. • crescendo [kri-
SHEN-doe]—a gradual increase in the volume or intensity of sound Now, match the
meanings of other music-related words in Column 1 with their meanings in Column
2. Column 1: 1. rhythm 2. tempo 3. bass 4. baritone 5. cacophony 6. pitch 7. scale
Column 2: (i) the lowest tone or part in music (ii) a mixture of loud unpleasant
sounds (iii) the pattern of beats or time intervals in music (iv) the speed or pace at
which a piece of music is played (v) a male voice that falls between the higher and
lower ranges (vi) a series of musical notes moving upwards or downwards (vii) the
perceived frequency of a sound, how high or low a sound is

COLUMN ANSWER COLUMN 2 HOW TO REMEMBER IT
1

1. rhythm (iii) the pattern of beats or time What the tabla keeps — the arrangement
intervals in music of beats in time. In Indian music this is the
taal.

2. tempo (iv) the speed or pace at which Rhythm is the pattern; tempo is how fast
a piece of music is played that pattern runs. The Indian term is laya.

3. bass (i) the lowest tone or part in Note the pronunciation given in the book
music — [p.base], rhyming with ‘face’, not with
‘pass’.

4. baritone (v) a male voice that falls The middle male voice: tenor above it,
between the higher and bass below it.
lower ranges

5. (ii) a mixture of loud From Greek kakos (bad) + phone (sound) —
cacophony unpleasant sounds literally ‘bad sound’. Its opposite is
euphony, ‘good sound’.

6. pitch (vii) the perceived frequency of The faster a string vibrates, the higher the
a sound, how high or low a pitch. This is what tuning adjusts.
sound is

7. scale (vi) a series of musical notes The ladder of notes — sa re ga ma pa dha
moving upwards or ni sa, up and back down.
downwards

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The two that are easiest to confuse: bass and baritone are both about low male
sound, and rhythm and tempo are both about time. Sort each pair with one
question. For the voices: is it a region of sound (bass — the lowest part, whether sung
or played) or a type of singer (baritone — a man whose voice sits in the middle)? For
time: which beats (rhythm) or how fast (tempo)?

Try this: clap “dha dhin dhin dha” four times — that is a rhythm. Now clap the same
pattern twice as fast — the rhythm has not changed, only the tempo has.

Q5 IV. Write the meanings of the underlined phrases based on your understanding of
the usage in sentences. 1. My mother told me, “When you follow trends without
thinking, you drown your individual style.” 2. The pianist was appreciated for his
sense of musicality. 3. When one of the performers in the group was injured, they
felt their practise would go down the drain.

PHRASE MEANING HOW THE SENTENCE PROVES IT

1. drown your to let your own distinctive way of The condition given is “follow trends without
individual doing something disappear inside thinking” — copying everyone else. What is lost is
style something bigger, so that it can no not the style’s quality but its audibility: like a single
longer be recognised voice inside a crowd, it is still there but can no
longer be heard.

2. sense of a natural feel for music — an The pianist is “appreciated for” it, so it is a quality
musicality instinct for pitch, rhythm, phrasing worth praising. It is not the same as accuracy; a
and expression that makes a player can hit every note and still lack musicality.
performance moving and not merely
correct

3. go down to be completely wasted; to come to An injury will stop the performance, so all the
the drain nothing hours already spent will produce no result. The
image is of water running away and never coming
back — effort that cannot be recovered.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Where each phrase comes from in the play — and why the meanings match:

Nabin uses the first against orchestras: “To drown your individual style in the
hubbub of an orchestra is hardly a wise choice, Shruti.” Note the word he pairs it
with — hubbub, a loud noise. A voice is drowned by noise.
He uses the second as his highest standard: “I never thought any of my
students… would lose their sense of musicality to such an extent.” For him,
losing musicality is worse than playing wrong notes.
Shruti uses the third in her lowest moment: “If he doesn’t let me participate, our
group won’t be able to perform. All our practice will go down the drain.”

Try this — write one fresh sentence for each: “She learnt every trending step and
drowned her individual style.” / “His voice is small, but his musicality fills the hall.” /
“The rain came at four and the whole day’s rangoli went down the drain.”

Q6 V. Read the dialogues given below. 1. Oh, how much I enjoy performing this piece! 2.
Wah, how soulful! You all have done a wonderful job! Sentences 1. and 2. are
___________ sentences. (declarative/interrogative/exclamatory/imperative) Now,
convert the exclamatory sentences given above to declarative sentences. • Use
‘exclaimed’ or ‘exclaimed with (feeling)’ instead of reporting verb ‘said’ • Remove
interjections, exclamatory mark, and quotations.

Sentences 1 and 2 are exclamatory sentences.

How you can tell: three signs together — an interjection (Oh, Wah), the ‘how +
adjective/adverb’ pattern that carries feeling rather than asking anything (how
much, how soulful), and an exclamation mark. They are not interrogative (nothing is
asked), not imperative (nobody is ordered), and not declarative until we rewrite
them.

Converted to declarative (reported) sentences:

1. Shruti exclaimed with delight that she enjoyed performing that piece very much.

2. Nabin exclaimed with admiration that it was very soulful and that they all had done a

wonderful job.

Page 33 of 101

as e
Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
STEP WHAT CHANGES IN SENTENCE 1

m ase
1
.co
Drop the interjection and the exclamation mark
a
Oh and ! are removed
g l
a s em
gl
Replace them with a reporting verb that carries “exclaimed with delight”
a
2
the feeling

m
.co ag
3 Join with that; remove the quotation marks …that she enjoyed…

ae
Turn ‘how + adjective/adverb’ into s
m
a
agl
4 plain how much → very much; how soulful →
intensifier very soulful

5 Shift pronouns and tense one step back
co m
I → she; enjoy → enjoyed; this → that

e m.
m l as
.co a g
Tip: the exclamation mark must not survive the conversion. If your sentence still

a s emin !, you have reported the words but kept the exclamation — which is exactly
gl what the instruction forbids.
ends
a
m a s
m .co agl
l a se
g
VI. Write the sentences given below in reported speech. One example has been
a
Q7
done for you. 1. “Wow Shruti! You’re a sensation!” suggested Avinash. → Avinash
exclaimed with wonder that Shruti was a great sensation. 2. “What an incredible

co m
achievement! I can’t believe we pulled it off!” said Iqbal. Iqbal exclaimed that it
m .
m
_____________________________.
as e
.co a g l
a s em
gl

a
se m
com l a
Iqbal exclaimed that it was an incredible achievement and that he could not believe they
. a g
m
ase
had pulled it off.

agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Each change, and why it is required:

“What an incredible achievement!” — the What a…! pattern is exclamatory. In
reported speech it becomes a plain statement: it was an incredible achievement.
The exclamation mark disappears into the verb exclaimed.
can’t → could not. The reporting verb exclaimed is past, so the tense inside shifts
one step back. Write could not, not couldn’t — contractions belong to direct
speech.
pulled it off → had pulled it off. A simple past inside past reporting moves to
the past perfect.
we → they. Iqbal was inside the group when he spoke; the reporter stands
outside it.
A second ‘that’ is added before the new clause. When two reported clauses are
joined, repeating that keeps the sentence clear.

Note the idiom: ‘to pull something off’ means to succeed in doing something
difficult. It stays exactly as it is in reported speech — idioms are never translated into
plainer words when reporting.

Q8 VI. 3. “Bravo! Each note was executed perfectly, and the performance was flawless!”
said Shruti’s mother. Shruti’s mother applauded that ____________________.

Shruti’s mother applauded that each note had been executed perfectly and that the

performance had been flawless.

Page 35 of 101

Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The changes:

“Bravo!” is an interjection of praise. It is not reported as a word — its meaning is
absorbed by the reporting verb applauded, which already means ‘praised’.
was executed → had been executed and was → had been: a past tense inside
past reporting shifts to the past perfect. Both verbs here are passive (was
executed), so the shift falls on the auxiliary — was becomes had been, while
executed stays.
The exclamation mark is dropped and a full stop closes the sentence.
No pronoun change is needed — there is no I, we or you in the original.

Tip: when the reporting verb already carries the emotion (applauded, exclaimed,
apologised, promised), do not add the feeling again as a separate word. “Applauded
happily that…” is redundant.

Q9 VI. 4. Iqbal: I basically have a little bit of scolding for breakfast every day!

Iqbal exclaimed jokingly that he basically had a little bit of scolding for breakfast every

day.

The changes:

I → he, since we are now reporting Iqbal rather than being him.
have → had: present simple shifts to past simple after a past reporting verb.
every day stays as it is. Time expressions change only when the time of speaking
has moved on (today → that day, tomorrow → the next day). ‘Every day’ describes a
habit, and a habit is not tied to the day of speaking.
exclaimed jokingly is the right reporting verb because the line is a joke, and the
stage direction proves it — the sentence is followed by “(all laugh)”.

Why this line matters in the play: Iqbal is making light of being scolded so that
Shruti will stop dreading it. Reporting it with jokingly keeps that purpose visible;
reporting it with a flat ‘said’ would turn a kindness into a complaint.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q10 VI. 5. Shruti: Sorry mummy, won’t hide from you again. I promise!

Shruti apologised to her mother and promised that she would not hide anything from

her again.

The changes:

“Sorry” is not reported as a word; it becomes the reporting verb apologised.
Similarly “I promise!” becomes promised — the sentence has two speech acts, so
it needs two reporting verbs joined by and.
mummy → her mother: a term of address becomes a description of the person
addressed.
won’t → would not: will shifts to would after a past reporting verb, and the
contraction is opened out.
you → her, since Leela is no longer the person being spoken to.
‘Anything’ is added because the reported clause needs an object to stand on its
own; the spoken version could leave it out, a written report cannot.

Check it against the reply: Leela answers, “You better not.” A reported version that
lost the promise would leave that reply hanging. Reported speech has to preserve
what the speaker did with the words, not only the words.

Q11 VI. 6. Avinash: You are a sensation now! The least you can do is throw a party!

Avinash exclaimed that Shruti was a sensation then and added that the least she could

do was throw a party.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The changes:

You → Shruti / she. Name her once so the sentence is clear, then use the
pronoun.
are → was and can → could: both shift one step back after a past reporting verb.
now → then. ‘Now’ points to the moment of speaking; once we are reporting,
that moment is in the past. (Now → then, here → there, this → that follow the same
rule.)
Two exclamations, so two reporting verbs — exclaimed… and added… — which
also keeps the teasing sequence of the original.

Compare with the worked example: the book reports “Wow Shruti! You’re a
sensation!” as “Avinash exclaimed with wonder that Shruti was a great sensation.”
Follow that model — the interjection ‘Wow’ becomes ‘with wonder’, not a quoted
word.

Q12 VII. Report the following dialogue in the indirect form of speech. Asma: Wow! What
a unique experience I had at the art studio today! Deepa: Tell me! I’m eager to
hear! Asma: I accidentally spilled paint all over my canvas. Deepa: Oh, my
goodness! What a pity! Asma: No worries! The painting now looks better than my
original plan! Deepa: That’s incredible! Asma exclaimed excitedly that she
1.____________. Deepa urged her to tell her as she was eager to hear. Asma said that 2.
____________. Deepa pitied Asma. However, Asma replied to her not to worry as 3.
____________. Deepa exclaimed that 4. ____________.

The completed passage reads:

Asma exclaimed excitedly that she 1. had had a unique experience at the art studio that

day. Deepa urged her to tell her as she was eager to hear. Asma said that 2. she had

accidentally spilled paint all over her canvas. Deepa pitied Asma. However, Asma replied

to her not to worry as 3. the painting then looked better than her original plan. Deepa

exclaimed that 4. that was incredible.

Page 38 of 101

as e
Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
BLANK ORIGINAL WORDS WHAT HAD TO CHANGE

as e
com I had at the art
.experience
“Wow! What a unique
a g l
Wow and the exclamation mark vanish into “exclaimed
1

a s em studio today!” excitedly”; the What a…! pattern becomes a statement; had

ag l → had had (past to past perfect); today → that day.

2 “I accidentally spilled paint I → she; my → her; spilled → had spilled.

com
. ag
all over my canvas.”

m
e worries” is already carried by “replied to her not to
s“No
3
now looks better than myag
“No worries! The painting
l a worry”, so it is not repeated; now → then; looks → looked;
original plan!” my → her.

co m
e m.
4 “That’s incredible!” That’s → that was; the exclamation is carried by

m l as
.co
“exclaimed”.

a g
a s em
agl Why blank 1 needs the odd-looking ‘had had’: the original verb is already past (I
had a unique experience). Reporting pushes a past tense one further back, into the

m a s
.co agl
past perfect — had had. It looks strange but it is correct: the first had is the auxiliary,
the second is the main verb.
se m
g l a
a
Notice what happens to the interjections. ‘Wow’, ‘Oh, my goodness!’, ‘What a pity!’

. c om
and ‘No worries!’ never appear as words in the report. Each one is absorbed by a
m is the single
reporting verb — exclaimed excitedly, pitied, replied… not to worry.eThat
s
.
most m
coimportant habit in reporting exclamations.
a gla
a sem
agl
se m
m
Listen and Respond — Page 188 (Transcript
co
for teacher, printed page 270)
g l a
m . a
ase
agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a c
m .
m a s e
e m . co agl
g l as
a

com
m .
m ase
.co


a g l Page 39 of 101

Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

LISTENING

Q1 I. Look at the given stringed musical instruments and decide which one could be
the yazh [yāḻ]. [Four pictures on page 188: 1 — a golden Greek lyre, a U-shaped
frame with a crossbar and a pedestal base; 2 — an arched harp with a long curved
stem carrying tuning pegs and a small boat-shaped body at the bottom; 3 — an
ornate instrument whose body is shaped and painted like a fish, with a curved arm
rising from it that ends in a carved animal head, strings running from the arm down
to the body, and round bosses set along the arm; 4 — a long flat board-zither with a
covered resonator at the lower end.]

Picture 3. This is a guess to be made before listening, so the reasoning matters as much as the
answer — you are being asked to read the pictures, not to recall a fact.

PICTURE WHAT IT SHOWS COULD IT BE THE YAZH?

1 A symmetrical golden lyre on a pedestal, strings No — this is the Greek lyre, a Western
stretched between two arms and a crossbar instrument; it has no long stem and
no carved animal head.

2 A plain arched harp: a long curved stem with pegs, Close, but the stem is undecorated
strings falling to a small boat-shaped body and ends in nothing. This is the
general shape of an ancient arched
harp.

3 A boat-shaped body decorated as a fish, a curved Yes. It has all three marks — the
arm rising from it, the tip of the arm carved into boat-shaped resonator, the carved
an animal head, round bosses along the arm and creature at the stem tip, and the
strings running from arm to body animal-name decoration.

4 A long flat board with strings running down it over No — this is a zither type; the strings
a covered resonator lie along a board instead of rising to
an arched stem.

The reasoning to give before you listen: the yazh is described as an ancient Indian
harp. A harp has strings that run at an angle from a stem to a resonator, which rules
out picture 4 (a board zither) at once, and picture 1 is unmistakably Greek. That
leaves the two arched harps, 2 and 3 — and only 3 is Indian in its decoration, with a
creature carved where the stem ends.

Page 40 of 101

Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 II. Now, listen to a musician describing the yazh and check if your choice was
correct. (Transcript for teacher on page 270)

The choice of picture 3 is correct. The talk supplies four tests, and picture 3 passes all of them.

WHAT THE MUSICIAN SAYS (PRINTED WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN PICTURE 3
PAGE 270)

“the yazh is an Indian harp which was used in ancient Strings run at a slant from a curved arm down to a
Tamil music” body — the harp shape, not the lyre or the zither.

“the tip of stem of this instrument was carved into the The decisive test. Only picture 3 has a carved creature’s
head of the mythological animal Yali” head at the tip of the stem; picture 2’s stem simply ends.

“gut strings with a wooden boat-shaped skin-covered The body of picture 3 is a deep boat shape, dark-
resonator and an ebony stem” edged, with a covered face.

“took different names such as ‘mayuri yazh’… Picture 3 is painted as a fish — so it is a matsya yazh,
‘makara yazh’… ‘matsya yazh’… and ‘vil yazh’ ” one of the named varieties.

Did you know? The musician calls the yazh “the ancestor of modern day veena” —
the same family line the chapter’s opening exercise hints at when it asks you to
name stringed instruments beginning with V. The instrument in the picture is not a
museum curiosity; it is an early stage of an instrument still played today.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 III. Listen to the musician’s description of the yazh once again. As you listen,
complete the notes below with not more than three words. The Yazh 1. Type of
instrument – The Indian _______ (i) Was used in: __________ (ii) Earlier version of:
__________ 2. Design (i) stem tip – shaped like _____ of mythological animal (ii)
resonator — A. shape of a _________ B. material – _________ 3. Design variety (i) peacock,
_________, _________, and bow string

NOTE ANSWER (THREE THE WORDS IN THE TALK THAT GIVE IT
WORDS OR
FEWER)

1. Type of instrument – harp “the yazh is an Indian harp”
The Indian ___

1 (i) Was used in ancient Tamil music “which was used in ancient Tamil music”

1 (ii) Earlier version of modern day veena “It is referred to as the ancestor of modern day
veena.”

2 (i) stem tip – shaped the head (the head of “the tip of stem… was carved into the head of the
like ___ of mythological the Yali) mythological animal Yali”
animal

2 (ii) A. resonator – boat “a wooden boat-shaped skin-covered resonator”
shape of a ___

2 (ii) B. resonator – wood covered with “a wooden… skin-covered resonator” (‘wood and skin’
material skin is equally acceptable)

3 (i) peacock, ___, ___, crocodile, fish “ ‘mayuri yazh’ – meaning peacock yazh, ‘makara yazh’ –
and bow string meaning crocodile yazh, ‘matsya yazh’ – meaning fish
yazh and ‘vil yazh’ – meaning bow string yazh”

How note-taking of this kind is done: the instruction ‘not more than three words’
means you are being tested on selection, not on writing. Two habits make it easy.

Let the note’s own wording tell you the part of speech you need. “Was used in
___” must be followed by a place, time or field — so ancient Tamil music. “Shaped
like ___ of mythological animal” must be a body part — so the head.
Copy the speaker’s exact words wherever they fit. Writing ‘veena of today’
instead of ‘modern day veena’ risks losing the mark for no gain.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

One extra detail worth hearing: the talk also says the yazh “was an open-stringed
instrument” and “was tuned by either pegs or rings of gut moved up and down the
string.” Open-stringed means it has no frets, so each string sounds one fixed note —
which is why tuning had to be done by sliding rings or turning pegs rather than by
pressing the string down.

Speaking Activity — Pages 189–190
Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

SPEAKING

Q1 I. Stress and intonation exercises can be a great way to understand the emotional
and rhythmic feelings associated with dialogues in a play. 1. Let us pick a few lines
from the play and speak them aloud. Focus on how stress and intonation can
change their meaning or emotional impact. [The book’s table gives four lines with
the stress and intonation for each: “I don’t want papa to feel that I don’t care about
his opinions, because I do.” / “Tonight, at dinner, I promise to bring this up.” / “Why
are you lost in thought my dear child?” / “Each bay, its own wind”]

Work through the book’s four lines exactly as its table sets them out. Stress is which word you
push; intonation is the melody of the whole line — where your voice rises and where it falls.

Page 43 of 101

as e
Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
LINE STRESS ON INTONATION WHAT IT DOES TO THE

ase
com
MEANING

. a g l
e m
s I don’t
“I don’t want papa ‘don’t’ in the Begin slightly low, The two stressed words are

g l athat
acare about his
to feel first part, ‘do’ conveying concern; rise opposites, so the sentence turns on
in the towards the end to itself. Stressing them makes the
opinions, because I second stress her sincerity contrast audible — this is Shruti’s
m
.co ag
do.” inner conflict in one line.

Start s
a em on
gl
“Tonight, at ‘promise’ and decisive Turns a plan into a commitment.
dinner, I promise ‘bring this a‘promise’; lift the pitch Say it flatly and it sounds like an
to bring this up.” up’ and volume a little on excuse; stress those words and it
‘bring this up’
co m
sounds like a decision already taken.

se m.
omdear
in thoughtcmy
“Why are you lost ‘lost’ and Gentle throughout; raise
l a
The gentleness is what makes it a
mother’sgquestion and not an
. a
em
‘thought’ the tone on ‘lost’

l a s
child?” interrogation. The rise on ‘lost’

ag carries curiosity and care, not
suspicion.

om a s
“Each bay, its own ‘each’ and
em
. c
Thoughtful, slightly Stressing ‘each’ and ‘own’ makes the
agl
‘own’
a s
philosophical; a steady line mean that one rule cannot fit

gl
wind”

a
pitch that gently rises on everybody — which is the whole
‘own’ reversal of the play, spoken as a

m
proverb rather than an apology.

. co
e m
m l as
.co g
Prove to yourself that stress carries meaning. Take the second line and move the

e m about: a
la s stress

ag “Tonight, at dinner…” — as against tomorrow; the emphasis is on when.
“Tonight, at dinner…” — as against catching him at the school; the emphasis is on
se m
com g l a
where.
m . a
ase
agl
“I promise…” — as against merely hoping; the emphasis is on how binding it is.

Same nine words, three different meanings, and nothing has changed except which
syllable you push.
co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
a s emQ2
gl
I. 2. Practice speaking aloud a few other sentences from the play on your own.
a Understanding what is being said and why, will help you stress the suitable
c
m .
e
portions and use the appropriate tone.
m a s
m . co agl
l a se
ag direction already tells you the manner — the playwright has done
Choose lines where a stage
half the work. Read the bracket first, then decide the stress.

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

LINE (AND ITS STAGE STRESS ON TONE TO USE
DIRECTION)

Nabin: (calmly but firmly) “No is ‘No’ — then let Level and quiet, with a falling tone at the end. Do
the answer.” the rest fall not shout; the direction says calmly. The force
away comes from the flatness.

Avinash: (very loudly) “SHRUTI!” the whole Loud and abrupt, on a single high note. The book
word prints it in capitals — that is the volume, marked
on the page.

Shruti: “There is need to worry ‘is’ Slightly rising, urgent. She is contradicting Iqbal’s
Iqbal!” “There is no need to worry”, so the stress must
land on the word that reverses him.

Nabin: (with a slight mocking tone) ‘Sure’ and Drawl ‘Sure’ on a falling tone — a false agreement
“Sure, there’ll be a practice, for ‘phoo’ — then put a curl of distaste on ‘phoo’. This is
‘phoo’ music…” sarcasm: the words say yes and the voice says no.

Nabin: “Wah, how soulful!” ‘Wah’ and Warm, open, a wide rise-and-fall. The same
‘soulful’ speaker as the sarcastic line above — hearing the
difference is the point of the exercise.

Method for practice: read the line silently and ask two questions — who is he
answering? and what is he trying to do to that person? The stress falls on the word that
does the work. Then record yourself once, listen, and adjust; hearing your own
recording teaches more in two minutes than reading the line ten times.

Writing Task — Pages 190–191

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

WRITING

Q1 I. Read the beginning of a story given below. Anuradha, a teenager, has been
learning tabla at school since her primary years and is an extraordinary tabla
player. Her father, a vocalist, is a music teacher in a school. He has never been
supportive of her learning the tabla and rather feels she should focus on becoming
a vocalist. She has been invited to perform at a prestigious event, and decides to
participate in it, despite her father’s disapproval. However, Anuradha’s mother and
brother have always rooted for her. Anuradha sat wondering. In groups of four,
create a play script based only on the beginning of the story given above. To write
the script, you may refer to the play you have just read.

This is a group writing task, so what follows is a method, a checklist, and one model scene you
can adapt — not a script to copy.

What a good script must contain (the book’s own tips):

Write a rough draft first; a script is rewritten more than it is written.
Open with the setting and characters, exactly as Twin Melodies does.
Use a colon after the speaker’s name. No inverted commas — everything on the
page after the colon is speech.
Use brackets for the manner of delivery and for actions: (firmly), (picking up the
tabla bag). These words are not spoken aloud.
Include an aside where a character’s private thought is needed.
Use non-lexical fillers — Ahem-ahem!, Arrghh!, Hmmm — to make the speech
sound real.
Use an ellipsis (…) for a short pause: “Yes, actually I … er … was finding the right
words.”

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How to plan it in four steps, dividing the work between four writers:

1. Fix the conflict in one sentence — ‘Anuradha wants to play the tabla at a
prestigious event; her father wants a vocalist for a daughter.’ Everything in the
script must serve that sentence.
2. Give each character one clear want. Father: to protect what he thinks is the
family’s real art. Anuradha: to play the invitation without lying. Mother and
brother: to get the two to talk. Characters who want nothing have nothing to say.
3. Build it in three short scenes — the news; the refusal; the performance or the
reconciliation. Three scenes is the shape of Twin Melodies, and it is enough.
4. Do not let anyone win by speech. In the play you have read, the father is not
argued into changing his mind; he is changed by hearing the music. Find your
own equivalent moment — the father overhearing her practise, or recognising his
own composition in her taal.

Sample answer (opening scene of the script):

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

ANURADHA’S TABLA

Characters
Anuradha : a teenaged tabla player

Suresh Rao : her father, a vocalist and school music teacher

Kamala : her mother

Rohan : her younger brother

SCENE I

The front room of the Rao house, early evening. A harmonium sits on a low table under a

photograph of a veena. Anuradha is at the doorway with a printed invitation in her hand.
Rohan is doing homework on the floor. Kamala comes in from the kitchen, wiping her hands.

Anuradha: (Aside) Three years I have waited for a letter like this … and now I cannot even

put it on the table.

Rohan: (without looking up) You have been standing at that door for five minutes. Is it the

invitation?

Anuradha: (quickly folding it) It’s nothing. Ahem-ahem. Just a school circular.

Kamala: (taking the paper gently from her) A circular that you have folded four times?

(reads, then looks up) The Sangeet Sabha, Anu. On the twenty-first.

Rohan: (jumping up) Arrghh! Say something, both of you! She has been invited to play!

Anuradha: Which is exactly the problem. Papa will hear ‘tabla’ and stop listening after that

word.

Kamala: (sitting down beside her) Then do not begin with the word. Begin with the

invitation.

Suresh enters with a bundle of notebooks. Silence.

Suresh: (setting the notebooks down, evenly) A house this quiet has usually just been talking

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as e
Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
about me.

m as e
.co l
Anuradha: Papa, I … er … there is something I have to tell you, and I would like to finish
a g
sem
a
the whole sentence before you answer.
g l
aSuresh: (sitting, formally) Hmmm. Finish it, then.

com
CURTAIN

m . ag
l a se
ag from Twin Melodies — an aside that lets the
Tip: notice what the sample borrows
audience in first, a stage direction that gives the father a formal way of sitting, an

co m
m.
ellipsis in the daughter’s nervous sentence, and an ending that stops just before the

m
answer. Borrow the techniques, not the words.
as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a
Learning Beyond the Text — Pages 191–193
m a s
.co agl
Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan)

se m
l a
PROJECT PUNCTUATION

a g

com
Q1 I. Study the words given in brackets in the following dialogues taken from the text.

.
What do you notice? • Iqbal: (a little loudly) Shruti! • Avinash: (very loudly) SHRUTI! •

m a s ema newspaper from
gl
Nabin: (calmly but firmly) No is the answer. • Iqbal: (picking up

. o desk)... • Nabin: (getting up)... 1. Why do we not useainverted
chis
em the dialogues?
commas to convey

a s
agl
se m
o m g l a
m .c
Because in a play script everything after the speaker’s name is speech — so there is nothing
a
to separate it from.
l a se
ag
Compare the two forms:

co m
m .
In a story, speech sits inside narration: Nabin sat down opposite her and said, “No

o m l se narrator stops and
is the answer.” The reader needs a signal showing whereathe

m ag
.c the character begins — that signal is the inverted commas.
l a se
ag In a play, there is no narrator at all. The layout does the job: a name, a colon, and

.c
m
then the words. Nabin: No is the answer. Inverted commas would mark a boundary

m a s e
co agl
that has already been marked, and a page full of them would slow an actor down.

m .
ase
a g l

com
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

One consequence worth noticing: because a script has no ‘he said angrily’,
everything a reporting verb would have told us must be put in brackets instead.
That is why stage directions exist — they are the script’s substitute for narration.

Q2 I. 2. Where do we use colons?

Immediately after the speaker’s name, to introduce that speaker’s words.

Iqbal: All ways are right ways, Shruti.

Nabin: No is the answer.

Peter: That’s the spirit!

Why a colon and not a comma or a dash: a colon means ‘what follows is the thing
just announced’. The name announces who is about to speak, and the colon delivers
the speech. It is the same use as in a list (Bring three things: a pen, a scale and a
compass) — an announcement, then the contents. The colon also gives the eye a
clean vertical break, which is why the names in a printed script line up in a column
and the speeches in another. An actor can then find every one of his lines at a
glance.

Watch the layout in your book: the character list at the start of Twin Melodies uses
the same punctuation — “Shruti Sharma : A young aspiring violinist.” Name, colon,
information.

Q3 I. 3. What is written within the brackets? What do these convey?

Inside the brackets are the stage directions — and they are never spoken aloud. They fall into
two kinds.

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KIND EXAMPLES FROM THE PLAY WHAT IT CONVEYS

Manner of (a little loudly), (very loudly), (calmly but Volume, tone and feeling — the
delivery — how firmly), (timidly), (with a slight mocking information a reporting verb like ‘he
the line is to be tone), (warmly) snapped’ would carry in a story.
said

Action or (picking up a newspaper from his desk), Business and movement on stage;
movement — (getting up), (Sits down opposite to Shruti in sometimes character as well — sitting ‘in
what the actor does an upright formal manner), (warmly placing an upright formal manner’ tells you
his hand on her shoulder) what kind of father Nabin is.

Why the brackets often matter more than the words: take Nabin’s answer to
Shruti’s request. The words are “Sure, there’ll be a practice…”, which read as
agreement. The bracket — (with a slight mocking tone) — reverses them into refusal.
Without it an actor could play the line as a yes and destroy the scene. The same is
true of the whole reversal in Act III: “Shruti’s father taps his feet and is seen
evidently enjoying” is a stage direction, and it is where his change of heart actually
happens.

Q4 I. 4. How does it help the actors?

It tells the actor everything the printed words cannot: how to say the line, what to do while
saying it, and who to be while doing it.

It fixes the tone before rehearsal begins. “No is the answer” could be roared or muttered.
(calmly but firmly) settles it — quiet and immovable — so every rehearsal starts from the
same reading.
It builds the rhythm of a scene. The three calls to Shruti rise in a deliberate ladder: Peter
plain, Iqbal (a little loudly), Avinash (very loudly) and in capitals. An actor who ignores the
brackets flattens a small comic crescendo.
It gives the body something to do. (picking up a newspaper from his desk) hands Iqbal a
prop and a reason to move; (warmly placing his hand on her shoulder) gives Nabin an action
that shows affection he would never state.
It carries the silences. (silence) after Shruti finally says the word ‘fusion’ is one of the
strongest moments in Act II, and it contains no dialogue at all.
It marks the technique. (Aside) tells the actor to turn away from the group and speak to the
audience; They practise in mime tells four actors to keep playing without sound while a
private conversation happens on the other side of the stage.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The box in your book puts it exactly: brackets “serve to convey to the actor the
manner in which to deliver the words, much like a reporting verb follows direct
speech (for example: he shouted). Instead of using a reporting verb, we enclose the
manner (for example: very loudly) within brackets. The words within brackets are not
uttered aloud.”

Q5 II. Did you know that there is an orchestra that made musical instruments from
recycling junk or discarded waste items? There is one such orchestra, called the
Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, Paraguay, that was formed in 2012, and children are
a part of it. They play musical instruments made from scrap materials collected
from landfills.

The book gives the facts; the task is to see why they are placed at the end of this particular
chapter, and then to take the idea further.

FACT GIVEN IN THE BOOK WHAT IT TELLS YOU

The orchestra is called the Recycled Cateura is a neighbourhood built beside a landfill — the
Orchestra of Cateura, in Paraguay children live where the city’s waste is dumped.

Formed in 2012, and children are a part of It is a young orchestra of young players, not a museum
it project.

Instruments are made from scrap collected Oil drums, packing crates, forks, X-ray film and baking tins are
from landfills rebuilt into violins, cellos, flutes and drums.

Why it belongs in this chapter: the whole of Twin Melodies turns on a father who
believed that only a certain kind of music, made in a certain approved way, was
worth playing — and who learnt that he was wrong. The Recycled Orchestra makes
the same argument in the loudest possible form: if a violin can be made from an oil
drum and a fork, then music does not belong to the instrument, or to the money
that bought it. The line most often quoted about the orchestra — that the world
sends the children rubbish and they send back music — is Nabin Sharma’s lesson
translated into another language.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Try this: find out what the orchestra’s founder, Favio Chávez, and the instrument-
maker known as ‘Cola’ actually build with. Then look for the Indian equivalents
already around you — the ghatam (an ordinary clay pot), the jaltarang (china bowls
filled with water to different levels), the khartal (two pieces of wood), the bulbul
tarang made from a typewriter keyboard. An instrument is any object somebody has
taught to keep a pitch.

Q6 III. Indigenous musical instruments are crafted from natural materials like
bamboo, gourds, animal hides, and shells, reflecting a deep connection to the
environment and cultural heritage. These instruments are diverse, ranging from
percussion instruments like drums and rattles to wind instruments like flutes, etc.
Find out more about such indigenous instruments that are used in your region.

This is a find-out task about your own region, so the answer must be local. What follows is the
method, the checklist, and one worked example to show the level of detail expected.

Method — where to look:

Ask your music teacher and any older relative who has attended village
weddings, harvest festivals or temple processions; instruments survive in
ceremonies long after they leave the stage.
Visit a local instrument maker or repairer if there is one, and ask what he
makes and from what. Craftsmen will tell you which wood, which skin, which
season.
Look in the district gazetteer or the State handicrafts board’s pages, and at any
folk-arts academy in your State.
Record the instrument yourself on a phone if you get the chance — a ten-second
clip is worth a page of description.

What a good write-up must contain for each instrument: its local name; the
material it is made of; how it is sounded (blown, struck, plucked, bowed, shaken);
who plays it and on what occasion; and one sentence on its present condition —
is it still being made, and by whom?

Sample answer (one entry, written to the level expected):

Page 53 of 101

as e
Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
a g l AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

co m
m.
FIELD ENTRY

mPepa as e
Name
.co a g l
se m
g l a Assam — played chiefly during Bohag Bihu
a
Region

Material A buffalo horn forms the bell; the pipe is a thin length of bamboo with a single reed

co m
. ag
cut into it

se m
How it is
unbroken through ag l a
Blown. It is a reed pipe, so the player must use circular breathing to keep the note
sounded
a long Bihu song
Who plays it,
co m
Young men in the Bihu dance troupe, alongside the dhol (drum) and taal (cymbals); its

m.
sharp, nasal cry is the signal that spring has begun
e
and when

m l as
m
Present
.co a g
Still made by hand in a few districts, but good horns are scarce and the number of

l a se
condition makers has fallen; several Bihu committees now run classes to keep it alive

ag
Why the ‘material’ column is the interesting one: an indigenous instrument is
m a s
.co
usually made of whatever the surrounding land produces — bamboo where bamboo
em agl
a s
agl is also a small map of the local environment,
grows, gourd where gourds grow, hide where cattle are kept, coconut shell along the
coast. So a list of local instruments
which is exactly the connection the book asks you to notice.

co m
m .
o m l a se
g a rhythm. Present it in
.cIV. In groups of five, select objects around yourself to create
a
e m
las the class. Enjoy!
Q7

ag
se m
com g l a
m. a
ase
A classroom activity — here is how to make it sound like music rather than noise.

a gl
The one rule that decides everything: five people playing at once is cacophony —
the word you met in this chapter’s vocabulary, “a mixture of loud unpleasant
co m
m .
e
sounds.” It becomes rhythm only when each person has a fixed job in a fixed cycle.
m l as
.co g
So build the piece in layers, not all together.
m a
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Method:

1. Choose a cycle and count it aloud — eight beats is easiest.
2. Sort your objects by pitch, low to high, and give each player one:

Low — an upturned bucket or a desk drum, struck with the palm
Middle — a book slapped shut, a wooden scale on a bench
High — a steel tumbler tapped with a pencil, keys shaken
Rattle — a pencil box half-filled with chalk pieces
Voice — bols spoken, not sung: dha, tin, na, ge

3. Enter one at a time. Player 1 alone for two cycles, then player 2 joins, and so on.
Each new layer must still leave the first one audible.
4. Give every player gaps. The silences are what let the pattern be heard — a part
that plays on all eight beats hides everyone else.
5. End together on beat one of a cycle. A clean stop is what makes an audience
clap.

Sample answer — an eight-beat pattern to start from (× = play, · = rest):

PLAYER / OBJECT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Bucket (low) × · · · × · · ·

Book slap (mid) · · × · · · × ·

Tumbler (high) · × · × · × · ×

Pencil-box rattle · · · · · · × ×

Voice (bols) dha · tin · dha · na ·

Tip: practise the whole thing at half speed first. Almost every group that fails in class
has tried to start fast. Get the pattern exact, then raise the tempo — and notice, as
you do, that the rhythm has not changed at all.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q8 V. Read the book Rigmarole and Other Plays by Sai Paranjpye and enjoy the humour
and wit. Rigmarole and Other Plays, a collection by Sai Paranjpye, includes the play
‘Rigmarole,’ which follows a silly King, his Council of nine Ministers, and a bed bug,
leading to humorous events. Other plays in the collection, like ‘The Boy Who Wrote
a Constitution,’ seek to educate children while entertaining them.

A reading suggestion rather than a question — but it is placed here for a reason, and it repays a
little attention.

Why this book after this chapter: you have just read a play in which almost
everything important is carried by stage directions and by how a line is said. Sai
Paranjpye is a film-maker and playwright — she directed Sparsh and Katha — and
her writing for children is built on the same craft: absurd situations played
completely straight. Reading a second play so soon after the first is the quickest way
to see which techniques belong to Twin Melodies and which belong to plays in
general.

What to notice while you read — turn it into a short reading log:

How does she use brackets? Compare her stage directions with Mitra Phukan’s —
are they longer, funnier, more detailed?
Where is the humour made? In the situation (a King, nine Ministers and a bed
bug), in the language, or in the gap between how seriously a character speaks
and how silly he is?
Does anyone use an aside? If so, is it used for a secret, as in Twin Melodies, or for
a joke shared with the audience?
‘The Boy Who Wrote a Constitution’ teaches while entertaining. Find the point
where the lesson appears — and judge whether the play stops being fun there or
not.

Sample answer (how to record it, three or four lines): ‘I read Rigmarole. The joke that works
best is that the Ministers debate a bed bug with exactly the seriousness of a real council — the
humour comes from the mismatch between the tiny subject and the grand language.
Paranjpye’s stage directions are longer than Mitra Phukan’s and often contain the joke
themselves, so an actor could get a laugh without saying anything.’

Reflect and Respond — Page 194

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A Friend Found in Music (poem by Bryanna T. Perkins)

BEFORE YOU READ

Q1 I. Read the questions given below and share your answers with your classmates and
teacher. 1. What kind of music do you prefer to listen to—vocal or instrumental?

Answer for yourself, but make the preference say something. ‘Vocal’ or ‘instrumental’ on its own
is not an answer; the reason is the answer.

What a good answer needs: the choice in the first line, then what each kind does
that the other cannot, and one honest admission about when you switch.

Sample answer: I prefer instrumental music, especially while studying. Vocal music brings
words with it, and words demand attention — I find myself following the story of a song instead
of the page in front of me. An instrumental piece gives me the same mood without any
language to compete with my own thoughts. That said, I switch to vocal music the moment I
stop working: a song can name a feeling exactly, and no flute solo has ever made my
grandmother sing along the way a Bihu number does. So the honest answer is that
instrumental music is for concentration and vocal music is for company.

Worth noticing before you read the poem: Bryanna T. Perkins never once says
which kind she means. Her poem calls music an ocean, a rhythm, a therapy and a
friend — all of them things music does rather than kinds of music it is. That silence is
deliberate, and it is what makes the poem fit any listener.

Q2 I. 2. Name your favourite musician(s).

Name real musicians and be specific — a name plus what he or she actually plays or sings tells
the class far more than a list.

What a good answer needs: one to three names, the instrument or voice each is
known for, and one particular piece or performance you have actually heard. Avoid
a list of ten names, none of which you can discuss.

Sample answer: My favourites are Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia on the bansuri — a name
Shruti’s friend Iqbal has on his wall in the play — and Zakir Hussain on the tabla. Among
singers I listen most to Bombay Jayashri. The performance I keep going back to is a Chaurasia

Page 57 of 101

Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

recording of Raga Yaman in which the alaap runs for almost fifteen minutes before the tabla
enters at all.

Tip: if you name a film-music composer or a band, say what they do that others do
not — an arrangement, a use of a particular instrument, a way of writing a chorus.
That turns a preference into a musical observation.

Q3 I. 3. Give reasons for your choice.

A reason must point at something in the music, not only at your own feeling. ‘Because I like the
songs’ is not a reason; ‘because he leaves so much silence between phrases’ is.

What a good answer needs — three kinds of reason to choose from:

Technical — tone, control, phrasing, timing, the way an improvisation is built.
Emotional — what the music does to you, and in what situation.
Personal or cultural — where you first heard it, who introduced you to it, what it
belongs to at home.

The best answers use at least two of the three, so that the choice sounds thought
about and not merely felt.

Sample answer: I choose Chaurasia for a technical reason and Zakir Hussain for an emotional
one. The bansuri is a simple bamboo tube with six holes and no keys, so every bend between
two notes has to be made with the breath and the fingers alone; hearing a raga unfold on it is
like watching someone draw a curve freehand. Zakir Hussain I like for the opposite quality —
the sheer speed and precision of a tihai landing exactly on the sam, which is the most satisfying
arrival in Indian music. And there is a third reason I cannot separate from the other two: the
tabla is what I hear in my own street during weddings, so it was music before I knew the word
for it.

Why these three questions open a poem about music: they force you to describe
what music does for you personally — which is precisely the poem’s subject. Perkins
is not writing about musicians or genres at all; she is writing about the uses of
music: it pulls, it moves, it heals, it lifts, it keeps her company. Having named your
own uses first, you read her list as a comparison rather than as a stranger’s
statement.

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Class 9 English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies
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co m
m.
Check Your Understanding — Page 195
m as e
.co
A Friend Found in Music (poem by Bryanna T. Perkins)
a g l
se m
l a
COMPREHENSION APPRECIATION

a g
I. Read the poem again to complete the poet’s diary about her feelings on music. Fill

com
Q1

. ag
in the blanks with words from the poem. Today, I’ve been thinking about how
mocean that calls me to its 1. ____. Music is the 2.
essential music is to me. It is likeean
s
a
agl 3. _____, moving me in ways I can’t explain. When I feel
_____ that harmonises with my
sad or upset about things, music is the 4. _____ that eases the ache. It is amazing
how music has the power to lift my 5. ____, and give me strength to pull through
co m
difficult times. I know that it is the effect of music whenever I feel 6. ____. Music is
em.
om music, for being my all-time comfort.
cdear
the much 7. _______, dependable friend when there is no one to 8. ______. Thank you,
g l as
. a
sem
my

la
agANSWER
m a s
.co agl
Every blank is filled with a word taken straight from the poem:

a s em
1. shore 2. rhythm 3. coregl4. therapy
a
5. spirits 6. cheerful 7. needed 8. care
co m
m .
m ase
.co
BLANK ANSWER THE LINE IT COMES FROM
a g l
a s e1.mcalls me to its ___
agl
shore “Music is the ocean / That pulls me to the shore.”

2. Music is the ___ rhythm “Music is the rhythm”
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
3. harmonises with my ___ core “That moves me to the core.”

4. music is the ___ that eases the
ache
agltherapy “Music is the therapy / I need when I feel blue.”

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e
5. power to lift my ___ spirits “Music lifts my spirits”

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m .co
6. whenever I feel ___ cheerful
a g
“The times when I’m most cheerful, / It’s clear, music was

l a se there.”

ag
.c
m
7. the much ___, dependable needed “Music is the needed friend”

m a s e
agl
friend

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ase
8. when there is no one to ___ care “When no one seems to care.”

agl

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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