Practice English Reading Exercises for B2 – Music, Theater & Cultural Festivals 10

Exercises:   123456

Reading 1

You are going to read an article about four people talking about their cultural shock and eventual appreciation of traditional instruments they had never seen before.

For questions 1-10, choose from the people/sections (A-D). The people/sections may be chosen more than once.

Which person/section

1   initially felt that the notes being played were incorrect?

2   realised that the music was beautifully suited to its physical surroundings?

3   wrongly assumed that the instrument lacked the durability for energetic playing?

4   originally linked the sound of the instrument to an annoying city experience?

5   was initially confused by the complicated visual construction of the item?

6   notes that the performance ultimately helped to alleviate their bodily stress?

7   was amazed by the highly technical accuracy needed to perform the music?

8   found the combination of numerous musicians and loud noise to be too much at first?

9   discovered that the melodies served as a method for preserving local myths and stories?

10   acknowledges having to overcome their own arrogance to fully appreciate the art form?

Finding the Rhythm: Embracing Unfamiliar Sounds

A Liam

When I first arrived in Bali, I attended a traditional Gamelan performance. It’s a musical ensemble consisting primarily of bronze percussion instruments, including massive gongs and metallophones. Honestly, my initial reaction was pure cultural shock. There were so many musicians violently striking their instruments simultaneously that the sheer wall of sound felt incredibly chaotic and overwhelming. I was entirely used to conventional Western melodies, so this polyrhythmic explosion came across as a disorganised racket. However, once I stopped trying to find a familiar beat and just let the music wash over me, my attitude shifted entirely. After a few weeks of attending local concerts, I began to pick up on the intricate, interlocking rhythms. I realised that the resonant, repetitive chimes actually had an incredibly soothing effect on my physical well-being. It became an almost meditative experience, completely relieving the deep tension in my muscles. If I hadn’t been patient, I would have missed out on something truly magical.

B Maya

During a university exchange in Senegal, I was introduced to the kora, a traditional stringed instrument made from a large gourd covered in cow skin. At first glance, its physical design completely baffled me; it had twenty-one strings stretching in all directions, and the tuning mechanism looked hopelessly complex. I took it for granted that something so intricate and seemingly delicate would snap if it were handled with any real force. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The musician I watched plucked the strings with such astonishing speed and vigour that I was completely mesmerised. Furthermore, I hadn’t realised the kora’s profound cultural significance. A local friend explained that the melodies weren’t just composed for entertainment; they were actually a vital tool for oral historians to reliably pass down ancient tales and community legends from generation to generation. Learning this was a massive wake-up call, teaching me to always look beyond an object’s unusual appearance.

C Thomas

Before trekking the Andes, my only exposure to traditional panpipes—specifically the zampoña—was hearing them played by buskers in crowded European subway stations. Frankly, I had always found their high-pitched, breathy notes rather irritating, exclusively associating them with the chaotic, stressful noise of urban commuting. Consequently, when I saw a local band setting up in a small Peruvian village, I braced myself for a headache. But then they began to play. Up there in the thin, crisp air, surrounded by towering, snow-capped peaks, the music made absolute sense. The airy, echoing tones didn’t sound like a nuisance anymore; they perfectly mirrored the vast, windy expanses of the mountains. It felt as if the landscape itself was singing to us. I had to swallow my pride and admit that context is absolutely everything. Hearing the zampoña in its authentic setting completely transformed my naive prejudice into profound admiration.

D Aisha

When my company relocated me to Jordan, a colleague invited me to a traditional concert featuring the oud, a pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument. Being a classically trained violinist, I have a very rigid understanding of pitch and harmony. Therefore, when the player started strumming, my immediate thought was that the instrument was horribly out of tune. The melodies heavily utilised microtones—intervals much smaller than a standard semitone—which sounded completely dissonant and confusing to my Western-trained ears. However, after the show, my colleague patiently explained the complex theory behind these microtonal scales. Once I finally understood the intense mathematical precision required to consistently hit notes that sit ‘between’ the keys of a piano, my frustration turned to awe. The musician wasn’t playing incorrectly; they were operating on a level of acoustic mastery I had never even considered. Coming to terms with this new musical vocabulary has radically expanded my appreciation for Middle Eastern artistry.

Reading 2

You are going to read an article about four theater directors reflecting on the challenge of bringing a 400-year-old Shakespeare play to life and making it relevant for modern teenage audiences.

For questions 1-10, choose from the people/sections (A-D). The people/sections may be chosen more than once.

Which person/section

1   feels that the fundamental human struggles depicted are still highly relevant today?

2   allowed the audience to physically interact with the performance space?

3   encountered opposition from purists regarding their creative choices?

4   regrets having to remove a beloved piece of dialogue for practical reasons?

5   noticed a parallel between the playwright’s meter and a contemporary music genre?

6   was proven wrong in their initial assumption about young people’s attention spans?

7   shortened the production to reflect the viewing habits of today’s youth?

8   incorporated everyday modern devices to help explain the storyline?

9   mentions that a faster delivery of lines was crucial to maintaining tension?

10   believes that the educational system often makes the plays seem dull?

Reimagining the Bard: Staging Shakespeare for a New Generation

A Marcus

Many teenagers take it for granted that Shakespeare is nothing but tedious literature forced upon them in dusty classrooms. The school system often drains the life out of these vibrant texts. When I was asked to direct Othello for a youth theatre festival, I knew I had to shatter that illusion. To make the protagonist’s descent into jealousy comprehensible, we had the actors use smartphones on stage. Instead of whispered court rumors, the deceit was spread through fake social media profiles and viral text messages projected onto the backdrop. Some older critics felt this was a cheap gimmick, but it worked wonders for our target demographic. The students immediately grasped the destructive power of online bullying. I firmly believe that while the language may be archaic, the underlying motives—envy, ambition, and betrayal—haven’t changed a bit in four centuries. Once the teenagers saw their own toxic social dynamics mirrored on stage, they were completely hooked.

B Sarah

I had always assumed that getting adolescents to sit through a three-hour Elizabethan comedy would be an absolute nightmare. I was completely convinced their minds would wander after ten minutes. Consequently, I decided to do away with the traditional stage and seating arrangements for our production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We opted for an immersive, promenade-style performance in an abandoned warehouse. The audience literally had to follow the actors from room to room, essentially becoming part of the magical forest themselves. At one point, the actors playing the fairies even asked the teenagers to hold props and block pathways. I was genuinely taken aback by how intensely focused they remained throughout the entire evening. By actively involving them in the physical space rather than treating them as passive spectators, we managed to hold their attention effortlessly. It completely proved my initial doubts wrong; they aren’t incapable of focusing, they just need to be engaged differently.

C Julian

If you want to breathe fresh life into Romeo and Juliet, you have to speak to teenagers in a language they naturally understand. For me, that meant focusing heavily on the soundtrack. I’ve always noticed a fascinating similarity between the steady, rhythmic heartbeat of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter and the driving beats of modern hip-hop. Therefore, we cast several talented young rappers to deliver the prologue and key monologues over a heavy bassline. Unsurprisingly, this bold decision didn’t go down well with everyone. A few conservative theatre reviewers wrote scathing articles, arguing that I was disrespecting a literary masterpiece by turning it into a rap concert. However, I completely brushed off their complaints. When you see a room full of fifteen-year-olds nodding their heads to the rhythm of 400-year-old poetry, you know you’ve struck gold. The music successfully bridged the cultural gap, proving that classical verse can still resonate powerfully if it’s dressed in the right audio.

D Elena

The biggest hurdle when directing Macbeth for a younger audience is the sheer length of the original manuscript. Today’s teenagers are accustomed to consuming media in rapid, bite-sized formats on streaming platforms, so expecting them to endure a lengthy, drawn-out tragedy is completely unrealistic. To combat this, I made the ruthless decision to slash the running time down to a blistering ninety minutes. We treated it like a contemporary action thriller. This meant the actors had to deliver their lines at a remarkably fast pace, which actually heightened the sense of impending doom and nervous energy. Of course, making such drastic cuts meant I had to drop several phenomenal scenes. I was absolutely gutted to cut the Porter’s iconic comedic speech, which I’ve always adored, but leaving it in would have severely disrupted the momentum. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but maintaining a relentless tempo was absolutely vital to keep the students on the edge of their seats.

Exercises:   123456