PrepTest 156, Section 3, Question 21
In typical accounts of the beginnings of bebop—the(447 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(14 more words not shown)
- AArtistic progress in(8 more words not shown)
- BNew movements in(15 more words not shown)
- CMusic historians should(12 more words not shown)
- DThe turns of(13 more words not shown)
- EMusic historians must(12 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Look at what the author does with the historians' language. The phrase “billion-dollar rut” is treated as a clue: billion-dollar brings commerce into a description of artistic stagnation. The author uses that wording to identify the historians' assumption that commercialism obstructed musical development.
What we’re looking for
So the principle behind this part of the analysis concerns what we can learn from historians' choice of words. We don't need a sweeping rule about how every new musical style begins.
Working the answers
- A
The author examines one account of bebop and its relationship to commerce. That doesn't establish a general rule that commercial pressure produces artistic progress.
- B
Likewise, this discussion doesn't establish how new musical movements typically begin. A story attributed to particular historians isn't proof of a general law of musical change.
- C
No priority rule for first-hand accounts is proposed. The analysis here examines historians' descriptions, rather than weighing first-hand testimony against other sources.
- DCorrect
The author explicitly draws an inference from phrases such as “billion-dollar rut” to what the writers believe the real culprit was. That move treats wording as legitimate evidence of assumptions underlying the historical account.
- E
The author criticizes an idealized historical account, but doesn't establish that its writers' aesthetic preferences caused the error. The particular analytical move we see is an inference from their language to their assumptions, not a rule forbidding all influence from musical taste.
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