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Who was Yehudi Menuhin, the man responsible for establishing International Day of Music? Find out…
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The making of a Mahatma
Values that he learnt in his childhood helped Mahatma Gandhi during his adulthood. What were they?
Whenever we admire great people, we often wonder how they must have been as children. Biographies of famous personalities reveal that some traits of greatness, achieved later in their lives, were prominent in their childhood. This is true of Mahatma Gandhi as well. A few incidents from his life show how his strong principles and ideas actually had their roots from early on.
Here are three such incidents…
Life lessons
The seeds of ideologies such as nonviolence, truthfulness, patriotism and a strong belief in peace and equality of all mankind, and standing up for what is right — sown in early childhood — grew forth into sturdy trees that not only gave Indians their freedom in a peaceful manner, but also gave the world the philosophy of ‘live and let live.
Let the music play
Whether you sing “Do re mi fa so la ti” or “Sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa”, music forms a big part of our lives.
Tomorrow is World Music Day. So, here’s a crossword to test your knowledge of the world of songs and notes. Play on.
Play hard
This interactive quiz is all about some commonly used terms in tennis. Can you ace it?
Serve, ace, fault, unforced error — there are plenty of terms commonly used in the world of tennis. The below quiz has five such words. Why don’t you learn them and use them the next time your friends or family discuss tennis?
Music amiss
An instrument-themed picture search puzzle just for you!
The school music band has misplaced its instruments! Can you help them find the 8 missing instruments and name them?
Musical connection
Where did Jazz originate? What about Salsa? Read on to learn about the association between genres of music and some places around the world.
Through the ages, across continents, these places are especially popular for their musical associations. Scroll through the slides to start learning and don’t forget to answer the questions in the end.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
My Monthly Planner: October 2022
Discover interesting facts about your favourite characters from the world of Harry Potter and download a calendar to keep yourself organised.
Music in the jungle
That animals, birds and insects can make music is a known fact. It is also a field of study called Zoomusicology. Find out more with this activity.
Music cheers us, raises our spirits, and calms us. Even early man must have made music by beating bones on stretched animal skins or blowing through bamboos. But where did he learn music from? The animals, of course!
Feathered songsters
It’s such a joy to be awakened by bird songs. And what a variety there is: from the plaintive tunes of the Magpie Robin and the cheery tinkling of Bulbuls to the whistling notes of a Malabar Whistling Thrush (dubbed the ‘Whistling Schoolboy’). Most people may consider a parakeet’s squawking parakeet or a crow’s harsh car as noisy but what’s noise to some is music to others!
Have you heard of New Zealand’s Bell Bird? Its call sounds exactly like a church bell and is heard over a five km radius. The association continues with a weird-looking ornament on its head. This normally remains deflated but, when filled with air, stands up like a church spire!
Birds have a special voice organ, the syrinx. Its membranes vibrate when air flows over them and produces a range of notes.
In the world of insects
Unlike birds, insects have different ways of producing music. The cheery chirping heard in grassy meadows comes from grasshoppers playing their fiddle/violin. They stridulate their spiny hind legs on their wings like a violinist uses his bow on the strings.
A Hawkmoth resting on a wall produces a hissing sound like a percussion shaker by forcing air out of the spiracles (holes) on its sides.
The drummer among beetles is the Deathwatch Beetle, which communicates by banging its head on tunnel walls.
Mammalian musicians
Among mammals, the dolphins are always ready for a song. They produce whistles through their blowholes and clicks through the melons or nasal sacs on their heads. Whales have melodious songs that vary from pod to pod. The Blue Whale’s songs are loudest (at 180 decibels) but the Humpback Whale’s songs have the largest reach as they can be heard 16,100 km away. Whales sing to communicate and signal the presence of food.
Apart from locating obstacles through echolocation, bats sing too. A little pup finds its mother in a cave with hundreds of other bats by listening for her signature tune.
Elephants too have a wide range of songs from the shrill soprano trumpeting when excited to the low rumbling produced from their stomachs. Some low-frequency tones may be inaudible to the human ear but can travel as far as 10km.
There are so many more and the music they create brings joy to our lives.
