PrepTest 105, Section 4, Question 2
The blues is a modern musical form whose(40 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(11 more words not shown)
- AThe sharing of(10 more words not shown)
- BBlues musicians who(16 more words not shown)
- CThe irony and(13 more words not shown)
- DThe realization that(12 more words not shown)
- EThe conversion of(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A song can be sad and still be enjoyable. The subject of the music and the listener's response to it don't have to match. We might find beauty in a song about frustration or loss even if we wouldn't want to experience the events it describes.
Still, the question asks us to explain the apparent conflict: why would music about anger, oppression, and restlessness leave performers and listeners feeling joy or hope? My starting idea is that dealing with a painful subject through music can have a positive effect. We need something that helps explain that effect, for the musicians or their audience.
What we’re looking for
This is an EXCEPT question. Four choices will offer some way for the unhappy themes and the positive experience to fit together. We'll select the one that doesn't help connect those two facts.
Working the answers
- A
Sharing the music can create a supportive group. A “cohesive, sympathetic social network” means people who feel connected and understand one another. That connection could supply love, hope, or enjoyment even when the songs concern hardship. A gives us a benefit of sharing the music, so it helps with the puzzle.
- BCorrect
This compares musicians' success depending on whether they use their own tragedies. It doesn't explain the positive emotional effect of the music on performers or fans. A song could draw on a personal tragedy or someone else's experience, and we would still need to understand why engaging with that sad material produces joy or hope.
The answer also doesn't equate being successful as a musician with experiencing the emotional response described. It changes the comparison without explaining the apparent conflict.
- C
Irony and wit can help people see their troubles from a different angle. A song could acknowledge a painful situation while giving the audience some distance from it, or a way to find humor in it. That perspective helps explain why the overall experience can be positive despite the subject matter.
- D
Hearing that someone else shares your difficulties can make you feel less alone. The trouble in the song may be part of what makes it helpful: it tells a listener that someone understands. That connects the unhappy topic with a reassuring or hopeful effect.
- E
A cathartic effect is an emotional release, such as relief from expressing or working through painful feelings. Turning sorrow into art could provide that release for the performer and the audience. The sorrow need not disappear from the lyrics for the experience of performing or hearing them to be beneficial.
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