NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 6 A Friend Found in Music (poem by Bryanna T. Perkins) — Listen and Respond

Book page 199 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Before you listen, read the questions and guess the responses to the given questions. 1. How are the two speakers connected? (i) parent-child (ii) teacher-student (iii) brother-sister

Answer

(i) parent-child — a mother and her son.

Proof from the transcript (printed page 271): the woman says, “Why are you looking so upset, Jaspreet?”, and when he asks how she knew, she answers, “I’m your mother, I get to know instantly.” He calls her “mom” — “Sure mom!” The relationship is stated outright, so no inference is needed.

What to listen for in this kind of question: forms of address (mom, sir, didi), claims of authority (I get to know instantly), and offers only a certain relation could make (till the time we purchase our own). A teacher would not promise to buy a student an instrument; a sister would not say ‘pack up quickly’ in that tone.

Q2.

I. 2. Where is the conversation taking place? (i) music centre (ii) park (iii) school reception area

Answer

(i) music centre.

Proof from the transcript: the mother says, “For now, pack up quickly, the music centre is about to close for the day. We’ll talk on the way home.” Two details settle it — the place is named, and it is a place with closing hours that they will travel home from. The instruction to ‘pack up’ also fits a student leaving a practice room.

Tip: when a listening task asks where, do not wait for the place to be named — listen for what people are doing and what is about to happen. ‘Pack up’, ‘about to close’ and ‘on the way home’ would have identified the setting even if the words ‘music centre’ had never been said.

Q3.

I. 3. Which musical instrument is the reason for the problem? (i) sitar (ii) santoor (iii) sarod

Answer

(ii) santoor.

Proof from the transcript: the boy says, “I should have chosen another instrument to play. I’m facing issues after having chosen the santoor,” and his mother replies, “The santoor music is fabulous.” The instrument is then named three more times, which is how a listening task usually signals its key word.

Did you know? The santoor is a hammered dulcimer from Kashmir — about a hundred strings stretched over a trapezoid box and struck with a pair of light wooden mallets called mezrab. All three options in this question begin with the letter S, which is the same trap the chapter’s very first exercise sets up with its four ‘S…’ instruments. Listen for the whole word, not the first sound.

Q4.

I. 4. What is the problem being discussed? (i) inability to play the musical instrument (ii) irregularity of the music class (iii) lack of choice of the musical instrument

Answer

(ii) irregularity of the music class.

Proof from the transcript: the boy states the problem exactly — “I am more than ready for the hard work, but the teacher who teaches santoor comes to the centre just twice a week. So regular practice is missing.”

Not (i) — he never says he cannot play it. He says the opposite: “I really want to learn to play the santoor well,” and “I am more than ready for the hard work.”
Not (iii) — he had a choice and used it; the santoor was his choice. He is regretting the consequence, not the absence of a choice.

The clause to hold on to is “So regular practice is missing” — the problem is the frequency of the class, not the boy and not the instrument.

Q5.

I. 5. What has been the unsuccessful solution? (i) practising for longer hours (ii) singing while playing the instrument (iii) watching videos about playing the instrument

Answer

(iii) watching videos about playing the instrument.

Proof from the transcript: the mother suggests it — “Hmmm… perhaps watching videos about the playing of this instrument might work. Have you tried that?” — and the boy reports that it failed: “I did! But playing an instrument is a hands-on skill. Watching these videos did not help much.”

Note the boy’s reason, because it is a good one: “playing an instrument is a hands-on skill.” Watching teaches the eye, not the fingers. It is the same argument the whole chapter keeps making — Nabin Sharma could not judge fusion music until he heard it, and this boy cannot learn the santoor until he can touch one every day.

Q6.

I. 6. What is the final decision taken? (i) change classes (ii) pick a simpler instrument (iii) purchase the musical instrument

Answer

(iii) purchase the musical instrument — with a borrowed santoor to bridge the gap until then.

Proof from the transcript: the mother settles it: “That won’t happen. I have a friend who used to play the santoor. I can request her to lend the instrument till the time we purchase our own. You can practice on that at home. That way your learning will remain fresh.” The purchase is the decision; the loan is the temporary arrangement.

Not (i) — nobody suggests changing the class. The class stays as it is; what changes is that practice moves home.
Not (ii) — the boy feared exactly this (“I might have to change my choice of musical instrument”) and his mother refuses it outright: “That won’t happen.”

Notice how the problem is solved: the class remains irregular, so the mother does not attack the cause — she removes its effect. If the difficulty is that practice is not continuous, put the instrument where the boy lives. That is why she can say, “your learning will remain fresh.”

Q7.

II. Now, listen to the conversation between the two people. As you listen, check your answers and rectify them wherever needed. Once done, discuss your responses with your classmates and teacher. (Transcript for teacher on page 270)

Answer

Checked against the transcript (printed pages 270–271), the six answers are:

#	Question	Answer	The words that confirm it
1	How are the two speakers connected?	(i) parent-child	“I’m your mother, I get to know instantly.” / “Sure mom!”
2	Where is the conversation taking place?	(i) music centre	“the music centre is about to close for the day”
3	Which instrument is the reason for the problem?	(ii) santoor	“I’m facing issues after having chosen the santoor.”
4	What is the problem being discussed?	(ii) irregularity of the music class	“the teacher… comes to the centre just twice a week. So regular practice is missing.”
5	What has been the unsuccessful solution?	(iii) watching videos	“I did! But playing an instrument is a hands-on skill.”
6	What is the final decision taken?	(iii) purchase the musical instrument	“till the time we purchase our own”

What the guessing stage was for: predicting before you listen is a listening strategy, not a test. Once you have decided that the two speakers are probably a parent and child, your ear is already tuned for words like mom and home, and the recording confirms or corrects you in seconds. A listener with no expectation has to catch everything; a listener with an expectation only has to catch the difference.

Worth discussing in class: the mother in this conversation does exactly what Leela does in the play — she does not lecture, she asks what the actual problem is (“What is the problem you’re facing?”), and then removes it. Both pieces of listening in this unit are about someone being heard properly.

Was this helpful? Report an error