PrepTest 156

[lcid:3722] Prep Test 156 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

  In typical accounts of the beginnings of bebop—the first "modern" jazz style, which was originated in the 1940s by Dizzy Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

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.

Meta-Structure?

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.

Last Thoughts?

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.

Question prompt

According to the passage, Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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

Strategy Overview

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to find the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

This question stem asks us what must be true of the typical accounts of the origins of bebop. These typical accounts were discussed throughout the entire passage, so this question stem provides no indication as to the topic of the correct answer or where it’ll show up in the passage. 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 rereading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn’t reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we shouldn’t check the passage to see if it was mentioned. Instead, we’ll table it and move on to the next answer choice. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, we can eliminate it. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, we’ll use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be true. If we can find that confirmation, we’ll select that answer choice and move on.

Answer choices

  1. A
    They assert that bebop Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Nope. Consulting the main point and our note for the fourth paragraph, we'll see that the typical accounts did not think bebop arose when musicians sought commercial success. In fact, the typical accounts believe that bebop was anticommercial (see our note for the third paragraph: "bebop ended commercialism"). Therefore, we can eliminate this answer choice without reviewing the passage.

  2. B
    They represent bebop as Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    No. According to our note for the second paragraph, the author compares the typical accounts of bebop's origins to the "crisis theory" of modernism's origins in classical music. But that doesn't mean that bebop was "an outgrowth of the modernist movement in classical music." The author treats those genres as separate and distinct, never stating or implying that one influenced the other. Moreover, we don't even know if the proponents are aware of the "crisis theory" of classical music! Therefore, we can confidently eliminate (B) without checking the passage.

  3. C
    They identify bebop as Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    This is tempting, as our note for the third paragraph says that typical accounts hold that "bebop ended commercialism." However, this answer choice also uses strong, superlative language with "the first." Superlative claims are very hard to support and thus unlikely to appear in the correct answer to a Must Be True question. For that reason, we should table (C) and see if any remaining answer choices are also consistent with our main point and notes but don't use such hard-to-support language.

    If we had to review the passage to assess (C), we wouldn't find the requisite support. The typical accounts never claim that bebop was "the first" jazz movement that didn't have commercial appeal. It perhaps had less commercial appeal than the movement that preceded it, but there could have been older movements with less commercial appeal than swing or bebop.

    Moreover, there's a slight equivocation between this answer choice and the typical accounts. The typical accounts hold that bebop lacked commercial ambition (P3, S6). But that doesn't mean it didn't have commercial appeal. The musicians weren't trying to make commercial music, but that doesn't mean the music wasn't commercially successful.

    For all of these reasons, we can cross off (C).

  4. D
    They overly idealize the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Yes. This is critical of the typical accounts, just like the author's main point. Therefore, we can review the passage to see if this is supported.

    According to our notes, the author uses the fourth paragraph to criticize the typical accounts. There, the author says that these accounts "idealize[] the circumstances of artistic creation" (P4, S2).

    Since we used the passage to confirm that the author thinks this statement about the typical accounts is true, we can select (D) and advance to the next question.

  5. E
    They were themselves shaped Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss whether the typical accounts of bebop's origins were shaped by commercial pressures. So, we can safely eliminate — or at least table — (E) and review any answer choice we haven't already eliminated.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for this answer choice if we re-read the entire passage. The author never discusses whether these theories are shaped by commercial pressures. The author says that "commercial relations permeate all realms of musical entertainment" (P4, S2), but we can't reasonably call scholarship on music a form of "musical entertainment."

Discussion

No threads yet—be the first to ask a question or share an approach.

View all discussions Start a discussion