Reading comp PrepTest 156 · Section 3 · Question 15

Topic: Humanities

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Typical view on jazz’s transition from “swing" to “bebop” (commercialism plays an indirect role, swing became formulaic)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author’s attitude
  • The typical view on jazz’s translation from swing to bebop:
    • Commercialism played an important but indirect role, as the commercial appeal of swing was still high, but it had become artistically formulaic (first through last sentences)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Author's comparison of typical view to "crisis theory" of classical music (dominant musical style's failure to change built up pressure that caused an "eruption")
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author’s attitude
  • Comparison, according to the author:
    • The writings on jazz's transition to bebop are similar to the wrings on the crisis theory of twentieth-century European classical music (first sentence)
  • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to "crisis theory" writers and those who write about jazz's transition to bebop:
    • The dominant musical style's failure to progress causes pressure to build up, eventually culminating with an "eruption" of a new, modern musical form (second and last sentences)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Author on the real cause of bebop, according to the typical account (the commercial incentive to play swing prevented artistic progression; bebop ended commercialism)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author’s attitude
  • Author's view:
    • Those who write about jazz's transition from swing to bebop really believe that commercialism played a major role in preventing the emergence of a more modern form of jazz (first sentence)
    • This version of jazz history assumes that bebop is the logical endpoint of jazz's dalliance with commercialism — the point at which jazz became art and not commerce (fifth and last sentences)
  • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to those who write about jazz's transition from swing to bebop:
    • Swing's commercial prospects caused many musicians to play swing despite its artistic stagnation (first and second sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "clearly suggest" (first sentence); "there is an implicit teleology" (fifth sentence)

Paragraph 4

• Paragraph note
  • Author's criticism of the typical account (even though bebop was new and modern, the musicians still faced commercial realities)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author’s attitude
  • Author's view:
    • The typical account offered by those who write about jazz's transition from swing to bebop is a false narrative that ignores the commercial reality musicians face (first and second sentences)
    • Although bebop was a new style of music, it still emerged in the commercial reality of musical entertainment and is better thought of as a new and more autonomous way to engage with this commercialism (third through last sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "it is a poor basis for historical inquiry" (first sentence); "idealizes the circumstances of artistic creation and represses the unpleasant reality that commercial relations permeate all realms of musical entertainment" (second sentence); "indeed willed a new musical subculture" (fourth sentence); "were not trying to disengage from the 'commercial' music world so much as to find a new point of engagement" (last sentence)

Main Point: Contrary to the account perpetuated by those who write about jazz's transition from swing to bebop, bebop wasn't a reaction to swing's commercial appeal but a new way to engage with the commercial realities of musical entertainment.

Correcting the Record: This passage best fits the Correcting the Record Meta-Structure*. In such a passage, the author will describe a common misconception or false belief. The author will then explain why this belief is false, usually offering an alternative belief. That description fits this passage perfectly, as the author uses the first, second, and third paragraphs to describe a common but erroneous view of how jazz transitioned from swing to bebop. Finally, in the fourth paragraph, the author corrects this belief.

In a Correcting the Record passage, the main point is typically the author's explanation of why the misconception is false or just an assertion that the misconception is false. To identify the main point, we can search for the part of the passage where the author summarizes their explanation. Here, the author summarizes that position in the passage's last sentence. We can use that sentence to answer any question that requires us to know the main point. Alternatively, we can summarize the author's explanation ourselves, which we did for our anticipated main point: "Contrary to the account perpetuated by those who write about jazz's transition from swing to bebop, bebop wasn't a reaction to swing's commercial appeal but a new way to engage with the commercial realities of musical entertainment."

*When a passage falls into the Critical family of Meta-Structures, more than one Meta-Structure will usually work for the passage. You could call this a Criticizing a Viewpoint or Rebutting Critics passage. You could even call this a Phenomenon/Explanation passage, with the people who write about jazz history and the author providing competing explanations of how jazz transitioned from swing to bebop. If you used any of these Meta-Structures to describe this passage, there's a good chance you came up with a similar main point and big-picture understanding of the passage.

Some test-takers may get tripped up by the subtlety of the author's correction. It's easy to assume that one side thinks that commercialism played a major role in jazz's transition to swing, while the other side thinks that commercialism played no role in jazz's transition. Several wrong answer choices will tempt test-takers with this erroneous belief. Instead, the typical, wrong account of jazz's transition from swing to bebop is that bebop represents jazz musicians' sudden (but long-gestating) rejection of swing's commercialism. The author claims that jazz musicians didn't suddenly start operating outside of capitalism when they began playing bebop. Instead, bebop was just a new way to play in the commercial space where all musical entertainment operates.