PrepTest 156, Section 3, Question 17
In typical accounts of the beginnings of bebop—the(447 more words not shown)
The author of the passage(18 more words not shown)
- ATheir music was(15 more words not shown)
- BThey repudiated the(13 more words not shown)
- CThey regarded themselves(12 more words not shown)
- DThey were better(13 more words not shown)
- EThey believed that(11 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The author's correction is not that bebop's musicians wanted nothing to do with the music business. Commercial transactions made music a profession and helped make their achievements possible. They sought more autonomy within that world.
What we’re looking for
For this open inference question, use those commitments without inventing figures about sales, promotion, or earnings. Artistic ambitions and acceptance of commercial relationships can both be true.
Working the answers
- A
No comparison of the industry's promotional effort is given. The author's recognition that bebop remained commercial doesn't show it was promoted with the same vigor as swing.
- B
We aren't told that the musicians rejected jazz as popular entertainment. That would move us back toward the story of artists severing those connections, which the author challenges.
- CCorrect
The final paragraph describes capitalism as a system of transactions that defined music as a profession for these musicians. They were working within that system, seeking a new point of engagement rather than treating professional commerce as something they had to escape.
- D
The account doesn't compare their actual earnings with what they would have earned playing only swing. Being able to work professionally doesn't establish which career path would have paid more.
- E
We are given their desire for autonomy and recognition, not an estimate of the audience they expected. Nothing establishes that they anticipated an audience as large as swing's.
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