NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 6 Twin Melodies (play by Mitra Phukan) — Listen and Respond

Book page 188 Updated on2026-09-08

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.]

Answer

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 stretched between two arms and a crossbar	No — this is the Greek lyre, a Western instrument; it has no long stem and no carved animal head.
2	A plain arched harp: a long curved stem with pegs, strings falling to a small boat-shaped body	Close, but the stem is undecorated 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 arm rising from it, the tip of the arm carved into an animal head, round bosses along the arm and strings running from arm to body	Yes. It has all three marks — the boat-shaped resonator, the carved creature at the stem tip, and the animal-name decoration.
4	A long flat board with strings running down it over a covered resonator	No — this is a zither type; the strings 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.

Q2.

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

Answer

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

What the musician says (printed page 270)	What to look for in picture 3
“the yazh is an Indian harp which was used in ancient Tamil music”	Strings run at a slant from a curved arm down to a body — the harp shape, not the lyre or the zither.
“the tip of stem of this instrument was carved into the head of the mythological animal Yali”	The decisive test. Only picture 3 has a carved creature’s head at the tip of the stem; picture 2’s stem simply ends.
“gut strings with a wooden boat-shaped skin-covered resonator and an ebony stem”	The body of picture 3 is a deep boat shape, dark-edged, with a covered face.
“took different names such as ‘mayuri yazh’… ‘makara yazh’… ‘matsya yazh’… and ‘vil yazh’ ”	Picture 3 is painted as a fish — so it is a matsya 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.

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

Answer

Note	Answer (three words or fewer)	The words in the talk that give it
1. Type of instrument – The Indian ___	harp	“the yazh is an Indian harp”
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 like ___ of mythological animal	the head (the head of the Yali)	“the tip of stem… was carved into the head of the mythological animal Yali”
2 (ii) A. resonator – shape of a ___	boat	“a wooden boat-shaped skin-covered resonator”
2 (ii) B. resonator – material	wood covered with skin	“a wooden… skin-covered resonator” (‘wood and skin’ is equally acceptable)
3 (i) peacock, ___, ___, and bow string	crocodile, fish	“ ‘mayuri yazh’ – meaning peacock yazh, ‘makara yazh’ – 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.

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.

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