Reading comp PrepTest 150 · Section 4 · Question 6

Passage

Questions 1-7 This passage was adapted from an article published in 2003.  .       For two decades, Wynton Marsalis complemented  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on Marsalis's peak and his/jazz's uncertain future
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • At Wynton Marsalis's peak, he was a major influencer and advocate for jazz music, but now he faces a critical backlash for his "neotraditionalism," and he and the jazz music genre face an uncertain future (second through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "extraordinary gifts" (first sentence), "pursuasive advocacy" (first sentence); "importance" (first sentence); "virtually unqualified admiration" (second sentence) "unsurpassed influence" (second sentence) "But…" (last sentence), "the biggest name in jazz" (last sentence), "uncertain" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Elaborates on Marsalis's/jazz's uncertain future
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Examples showing how Marsalis and jazz face uncertain futures, according to author:
      • Marsalis has not released any new music since 1999 (second sentence)
      • Marsalis no longer has a record contract with any company (third sentence)
      • Record companies are not signing or promoting contemporary jazz artists (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "prestigious" (third sentence); "essentially gave up" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics: Marsalis is to blame since he emphasized classicism and discouraged innovation
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relaionship, according to critics:
      • Marsalis' emphasis on tradition has stifled innovation in jazz the genre, which has partially caused some of the problems facing jazz (first through last sentence)
    • Example to support critics' point of view:
      • Quote from Columbia music executive (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "grim state of affairs" (first sentence); "evident master" (first sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's rebuttal: Marsalis encouraged innovation, but record companies took the wrong lesson
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Marsalis never just replicated tradition — he explored how traditional elements could be reimagined in new contexts (second sentence)
    • Record executives' view:
      • Marsalis showed how great and timeless old jazz artists were, so record companies should exclusively release older jazz recordings instead of investing in new jazz artists (third through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "Indeed" (first sentence); "great emphasis" (first sentence); "Still" (second sentence); "never advocated mere revivalism" (second sentence); "individualistic expression" (second sentence); "push it forward" (second sentence)

Paragraph 5

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's explanation of the current state of jazz
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Marsalis's promotion of jazz masters led record companies to see the jazz masters as "brand names," which led the companies to re-release jazz albums from these masters rather than fund new talent (first and last sentence)
    • Comparison of responses to Marsalis's promotion of jazz masters, according to the author:
      • Young jazz musicians viewed jazz masters as role models, critics viewed this promotion as excessive worship, and record companies realized the jazz masters are profitable brand names (first sentence)
    • Comparison of market incentives for record companies, according to the author:
      • It's far more profitable to re-release old albums than to find, record, and promote new artists (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "brand names" (first sentence); "the ultimate prize" (first sentence), "irresistible" (last sentence), "far more profitable" (second sentence)

Main Point: By championing an appreciation for jazz traditions amongst his followers, Wynton Marsalis has ironically helped record companies realize that they should exclusively re-release old jazz albums rather than promote modern artists.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 3 (P1, S3)- Introduces phenomenon

P3, S1 - Critics' explanation

P3, S3 - Example supporting critics' point of view

P4, S2-3 - Author's explanation

Meta-Structure?

Phenomenon/Explanation: We think the Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure best fits this passage's structure*. In this passage, the author introduces a phenomenon and offers two related explanations for that phenomenon. In the first paragraph, the author introduces the phenomenon — that jazz music now faces an uncertain future. After providing the specifics of this "grim state of affairs" in the second paragraph, the third paragraph describes some critics' explanation for jazz's decline. The critics allege that Wynton Marsalis, a popular jazz trumpeter and jazz history advocate, is to blame for jazz's downfall (P3, S1). The author provides their own account in the fourth paragraph. The author argues that the critics are only partially correct. The author notes that Marsalis never wanted to stifle jazz's innovation; however, his promotion of jazz masters led record companies to realize that it's more profitable to re-release jazz masters' recordings than to find and promote new artists (P4, S2 - P5, S2).

In a Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure, the main point is generally the explanation that the author presents or endorses. Here, the author presents their explanation in the fourth and fifth paragraphs. Because the author did not summarize the main point in one sentence, we did so for the author: "By championing an appreciation for jazz traditions amongst his followers, Wynton Marsalis has ironically helped record companies realize that they should exclusively re-release old jazz albums rather than promote modern artists."

*Since the author ultimately disagrees with the critics' explanation, you might see this as a Criticizing a Viewpoint, Rebutting Critics, or Correcting the Record passage. We don't think the author spends enough time criticizing/rebutting/correcting the critics to apply any of these Meta-Structures. Alternatively, there's an argument that this is an Importance of Subject passage. Despite our quibbles, any one of these designations would likely lead you to a solid understanding of this passage's structure. Let's keep in mind that the Meta-Structures are tools to help us think about and describe the passage's structure. We don't need to be 100% correct in which Meta-Structure we choose to develop a strong structural understanding.

 

Last Thoughts?

There's plenty of author's attitude here (which shouldn't surprise us, given the humanities subject matter). Tracking the author's attitude is one of our primary jobs as we read Reading Comprehension passages. Doing so will help us understand the Meta-Structure and the main point and even predict where the author's argument will go. When we can trace this much attitude, we should also expect an abnormally high percentage of the questions to relate to the author's beliefs.

Question prompt

The author would be Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the main point, and use notes or highlighted/underlined text in the passage to recall the author's attitude, and find the answer that best reflects your understanding of the main point/author's attitude

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us about the author's view but doesn't provide any insight into the topic of the correct answer or where the supporting information might show up in the passage. This means the correct answer is likely to relate back to the author's main point. As such, we'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by re-reading our answer to the main point question). We can also review any notes about the author's attitude or any text we highlighted because it expressed the author's opinion. After doing that, we can head to the answer choices, tabling those that don't line up with the main point. For those answer choices that conform to the author's main point, we'll use our notes and the passage to see if it's correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Ironically, record companies have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) Does this align with the author's main point or what you recall reading about the author's opinions?

    Probably. The main point we anticipated is, "By championing an appreciation for jazz traditions amongst his followers, Wynton Marsalis has ironically helped record companies realize that they should exclusively re-release old jazz albums rather than promote modern artists." It seems like the author might agree that record companies endorse a rigid "classicism." After all, they're exclusively reissuing old jazz albums!

    Is this classicism more rigid than the classicism critics say Marsalis endorses? Since this answer choice is otherwise consistent with the main point, it might be worth checking the passage to get a refresher on these critics' accusations. In the third paragraph, these critics argue that Marsalis has turned jazz into an "orthodoxy" that has "inhibited the innovative impulses that have always advanced jazz" (P3, S2). In other words, they say that Marsalis's classicism has discouraged innovation in jazz. That's much less severe than the record companies' classicism — focusing only on repackaging classic recordings and not releasing music recorded by contemporary jazz artists (P5, S2).

    Therefore, this answer choice is consistent with the main point and supported by the passage. We would be justified in selecting and moving on to the next question without reading the remaining answer choices.

  2. B
    Contrary to what critics Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this align with the author's main point or what you recall reading about the author's opinions?

    Perhaps not. This is somewhat consistent with the main point, so it may warrant research (if you haven't already selected the correct answer and moved on). The author concludes that Marsalis isn't only interested in reviving traditional jazz — he also cares about showing how classical elements can be reconfigured into something new and personal (P4, S2). So, Marsalis does more to push jazz forward than some critics acknowledge.

    But did the author ever say that Marsalis "energetically promoted new artists"? No. The author never makes such a claim. The closest thing to this claim is the author's note that Marsalis encouraged "young practitioners to pay attention to music's traditions" (P4, S1). That's not the same thing as promoting the young practitioners themselves. Therefore, (B) is unsupported.

  3. C
    Understandably, Marsalis's fellow musicians Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this align with the author's main point or what you recall reading about the author's opinions?

    Probably not. If you can't recall, it's best to table this answer choice and check the remaining to see if any details ring the old memory bell. In fact, experienced test-takers would recognize that this makes a strong comparison between the musicians and critics. Such test-takers would trust that they'd remember or have highlighted such a strong comparison if it appeared in the passage. They would consequently eliminate (C).

    Besides, the author never says that musicians disagree with Marsalis's view more vocally than critics. The author says both critics and musicians take issue with Marsalis's "neotraditionalism" (P1, S3), but the author never says musicians are more vocal. In fact, the third paragraph, which only describes critics and a record executive's issues with Marsalis, suggests that the critics might be more adamant in their displeasure with Marsalis.

  4. D
    Surprisingly, most of today's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this align with the author's main point or what you recall reading about the author's opinions?

    Probably not. If you don't remember if the passage mentioned this, we recommend tabling this answer choice and checking the remaining to see if any present an opinion you recall reading.

    If we thought we remembered reading this and opted to review the passage, we wouldn't find any confirmation that the author believes this. The author says both critics and musicians decry Marsalis's "neotraditionalism" (P1, S3), but the author never says musicians defend Marsalis. Therefore, (D) is unsupported.

  5. E
    In saturating the market Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this align with the author's main point or what you recall reading about the author's opinions?

    Probably not. If you don't remember whether the author made this claim, table this answer choice and review any other choices you haven't yet eliminated, starting with the most promising option.

    If this sounded familiar and we decided to review the passage, we wouldn't find any support. The author says that Marsalis released fifteen new CDs in 1999 (P2, S1), but the author never says this deluge of content made Marsalis especially vulnerable to criticism. After all, the critics don't accuse Marsalis of oversaturating the market — they accuse him of stifling innovation in jazz by emphasizing the importance of jazz history (P3, S2).

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 68%
  2. B 10%
  3. C 4%
  4. D 7%
  5. E 12%

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