PrepTest 136, Section 4, Question 5
A famous artist once claimed that all great(40 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AMusic is inferior(4 more words not shown)
- BEither the artist's(11 more words not shown)
- CLike some great(11 more words not shown)
- DSome elements of(8 more words not shown)
- ESounds that do(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Does great music have to sound like something in nature?
The artist says all great art imitates nature. If that rule is right, anything that counts as great art must meet it, including music. Some music might imitate ocean waves or galloping horses. But the passage says most great music imitates nothing at all.
My first reaction is that this gives us a reason to challenge the artist's rule. Here is music we call great, and it does not do what the rule demands. We should be careful, though: the rule is a claim being examined, not a fact we have been told to accept without question.
What we’re looking for
The main point is left for us to put together. Look for an answer that captures the conflict between that rule and the description of great music. We do not need to decide whether music is better or worse than another art form.
Working the answers
- A
Nothing ranks music below the other arts. Failing to imitate nature could instead be a reason to doubt the artist's proposed standard. A adds an evaluation of music's worth that the argument never makes.
- BCorrect
This makes the conflict precise. Either the rule is wrong, or most great music does not qualify as great art under that rule. We cannot keep the rule, accept that most great music imitates nothing, and also classify that music as great art.
- C
The argument gives us information about music, not paintings or sculptures. Perhaps some of those works also fail to imitate nature, but that would be additional evidence about other forms of art. It is not the point established by this discussion.
- D
The issue is whether great art must imitate nature, not whether nature contains things that art cannot represent. Even if art could represent every wave, horse, and landscape perfectly, we would still have the stated problem: most great music does not imitate anything.
- E
This treats imitation as a requirement for great music, even though the passage explicitly says most great music imitates nothing. The artist's claim concerns great art and is itself under scrutiny. We cannot simply adopt it as an established rule and use it to deny the description of great music.
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