I Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each:
- How old was Evelyn when she went to the Royal Academy of Music?
Ans. Evelyn was not even seventeen years when she went to the Royal Academy of Music.
- When was her deafness first noticed? When was it confirmed?
Ans. Evelyn’s deafness was noticed when she was eight years old. It was confirmed by the time she was eleven.
II Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (30 – 40 words)
- Who helped her to continue with music? What did he do and say?
Ans. Ron Forbes helped her to continue with music. He spotted her potential and said, “Don’t listen through your ears, try to sense it some other way. He began by tuning two large drums to different notes.
- Name the various places and causes for which Evelyn performs.
Ans. Evelyn performed free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She made music her life and performed many regular concerts.
III Answer the question in two or three paragraphs. (100 – 150)
- How does Evelyn hear music?
Ans. Evelyn became deaf when she was eleven years old. But she did not give up. She was determined to lead a normal life and pursue her interest in music. Ron Forbes, a percussionist asked her to sense music some other way. She realized she could feel the higher drum from the waist up and the lower one from the waist down. She could sense certain notes in different parts of her body. She learnt to open her body and mind to sounds and vibrations. “It pours in through every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my cheekbones and even in my hair. “When she played on the xylophone, she could sense the sound passing up the stick into her fingertips. By learning against the drums, she could feel the resonances flowing into her body. On the wooden floor she used to remove her shoes so that the vibrations may pass through her bare feet and up her legs.