Indian Classical Music Reading Answers

The Academic passage, Indian Classical Music Reading Answers, is a reading passage that consists of 12 questions.

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By solving and reviewing Sample Reading questions from past IELTS papers, you can ensure that your Reading skills are up to the mark. Take the practice test Indian Classical Music below and try more IELTS reading practice tests from IELTSMaterial.com.

The question types found in this passage are:

• Yes/No/Not Given (Q. 1-8)
• Sentence Completion (Q. 9-12)

Reading Passage 1

Indian Classical Music 

The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindus tradition, the Vedas.

Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music at length. Indian classical music has its origins as a meditation tool for attaining self realization. All different forms of these melodies (ragas) are believed to affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “mood”) in the path of the Kundalini. However, there is little mention of these esoteric beliefs in Bharat’s Natyashastra, the first treatise laying down the fundamental principles of drama, dance and music. The Samadeva, one of the four Vedas, created out of Riga-veda so that its hymns could be sung as Samagana, established its first pop.

Indian classical music has one of the most complex and complete musical systems ever developed. Like Western classical music, it divides the octave into 12 Semitones of which the 7 basic notes are Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa, replacing Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. However, it uses just intonation tuning (unlike western classical music which uses the equal temperament tuning system).

Indian classical music is monophonic in nature and based around a single melody line which is played over a fixed drone. The performance is based melodically on particular rages and rhythmically on talas.

NATIONAL SYSTEM

Scholars of Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth century were enamored by Indian music. With no facility to record the sound they explored for some existing system that might exist system that expresses sounds in the composition. There were pointers to an ancient notations system which scholars had also translated into Persian: still complexity of Indian classical music could not be expressed in writing. Though some western scholars did record compositions in the staff notation system, Indian musicians used Pt. Bhatkhande system. Though more accurate, this relies on Devanagari script rather than symbols and hence is cumbersome at times. A new notation system has been proposed which uses symbols and offers instantaneous comprehension like a staff notation system. It is with standardization of a notation system that hitherto unknown compositions would see the light of day.

INSTRUMENTS

Instruments typically used in Hindustani music include sitar, sarood tanpura, bansuri, shehnai, sarangi, and table. Instruments typically used in carnatic music include flute, gottuvadyam, veena mridangam, kanjira, ghatam and violin.

Questions 1-8

1 Out of four Vedas, music is only described in samaveds.

2 Music is believed to have an effect on the human body.

3 The Indian classical music system is simple and sophisticated.

4 There are 7 basic notes and 12 semitones in Indian classical music.

5 Talas in Indian music are derived from western music.

6 Indian classical music could express itself in writing.

7 The composition used by Indian musicians was based on Devnagri script.

8 New script used for music had no symbols.

Question 9-12

9 “Chakras” is a name given to energy centers in the path of ……………….

10 Out of all kinds of music, Indian classical music is ………………….. and has a complete system.

11 Monophonic music system is based on a single………….

12 The instruments flute, veena and violin are………………..in carnation music.

Answer Key

Explanation 

1 Answer: No

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 1

Answer explanation: In the mentioned location, it is given “The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, part of the Hindus tradition, the Vedas.”. Although it is stated that the Samaveds mentioned music at length, the other Veds also discussed Indian classical music as pointed in the quoted sentence. As the statement is False, the answer is No.

2 Answer: Yes

Question type: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 2, line 2 – line 3

Answer explanation: In the second paragraph, it is stated that “Indian classical music has its origins as a meditation tool for attaining self realization. All different forms of these melodies (ragas) are believed to affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “mood”) in the path of the Kundalini.” It can be pointed out that music, especially Indian classical music, affects the chakras of our body and in turn, has an effect on the human body. As the statement is True, the answer is Yes.