PrepTest 114, Section 4, Question 25
One reason why European music has had such(70 more words not shown)
The claims made above are(7 more words not shown)
- AAfrican music has(13 more words not shown)
- BEuropean military and(10 more words not shown)
- CThe original functions(12 more words not shown)
- DMusic that is(17 more words not shown)
- ESome works of(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
You can listen to dance music without dancing. That helps make the abstract language concrete: the music was created for an activity, but its parts fit together well enough for it to make sense on its own. The author treats that independence as one reason for European music's sophistication and influence.
My first reaction is to wonder why that would be unique to European music. Couldn't Chinese music do the same thing? But the passage doesn't say this quality is unique. It also says European music has had a strong influence, not the strongest influence. We shouldn't create comparisons the author hasn't made.
What we’re looking for
The question asks which claim is incompatible with the passage. That means four choices can coexist with it; they don't have to be established by it. I'd expect the exception to run against the claimed independence—for example, saying the music can't make sense without the dance or worship it originally accompanied.
Working the answers
- A
European music can have a strong influence even if African music has a stronger one. The passage doesn't rank their impact. A comparative claim about African music therefore needn't conflict with the claim made about European music.
- B
The author gives one reason for the influence, not the only reason. Military or economic expansion could provide another part of the explanation. B doesn't deny the contribution of the music's internal coherence; it adds a factor that could operate alongside it.
- C
Chinese music could also have become independent of its original functions. That was our initial thought while reading, and the passage doesn't rule it out. Explaining a feature of European music doesn't reserve that feature exclusively for European music.
- DCorrect
This points in the opposite direction from the author's account of sophistication. The author credits music's ability to make sense on its own, apart from its original function. D instead says music that becomes unintelligible without that function tends to be the most sophisticated.
Be careful about the comparison: the author never calls European music the most sophisticated. So we shouldn't defend D by pretending the passage supplied that ranking. The conflict concerns the quality the author uses to explain sophistication—independence from the original activity—while D associates the highest sophistication with dependence on that activity. That makes D the strongest conflict among the five choices.
- E
Some works of art could lose appeal when put to a different use, even if the music described can make sense apart from its original use. There are several differences here. E covers works of art generally, not just this music; it concerns appeal rather than internal coherence; and serving a new function isn't the same as being considered without the old one.
For example, saying you can appreciate dance music without dancing doesn't promise that it will work equally well when assigned to a different ceremony. E doesn't deny the independence the passage describes.
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