Inferences about views | Humanities passage | Music

0:00- [Instructor] It can be inferred that both authors would be likely to agree with which one of the following statements? So this is an inference question so the answer is not going to be sitting there explicitly in the passage waiting for you to discover. The correct answer here is going to be one that both authors would agree with.

0:19Now the incorrect choices may be statements that only one author would agree with or that neither of the authors would agree with or that we really don't have any information to know whether the authors would agree with it. So let's see what we have here. A, the more complex a piece of music, the more it is likely to be enjoyed by most listeners.

0:41So do both authors say that the more complex, the more it will be enjoyed by most listeners? No, passage two said that there are a lot of listeners who don't like complex music. Listeners who have less experience in musical appreciation may not prefer more complex music so A is not the answer.

1:00B, more knowledgeable listeners tend to prefer music that is discontinuous and unpredictable. We hear that at the end of passage B but there's no mention of that about knowledgeable versus unknowledgeable listeners in passage A so we don't really have any basis for making a judgment on that.

1:17I don't like B. C, the capacity of music to elicit strong emotional responses from listeners is the central determinant of its artistic value. Okay that's phrased in a pretty extreme way. The central determinant of its artistic value neither passage really said anything about that.

1:35Passage A and passage B steered clear of saying this is why music is valuable so I'm not sure we have any basis for making a judgment on that one either. D, music that lacks a predictable course is unlikely to cause a listener to feel relaxed so that's interesting.

1:54Music that lacks a predictable course so unpredictable music is unlikely to cause a listener to feel relaxed. If it's unpredictable are you going to feel relaxed? Do both passages say something about that? I think maybe they do. I'd be leaning towards D. You can go back and confirm that in a minute.

2:10Let's see whether E has anything better to offer. E, music that changes from soft to loud is perceived as disturbing and unpleasant by most listeners. Okay the change from soft to loud, the question of volume is not mentioned by either passage so that is not the answer.

2:28Again we have no basis for knowing what the authors would say about a sudden change in volume. We've talked about discontinuity, we've talked about relaxing and rhythmic and harmonious music but so let's go back and see if we can verify D. On test day you will probably just choose D and move on but since we're here let's go ahead and prove this to ourselves.

2:52So unpredictable music is unlikely to make a listener to feel relaxed let's find the proof for that. Okay so we have a relaxing effect here. Relaxing music is continuous and rhythmical so it's pretty safe to assume that if it's discontinuous and arrhythmical or unpredictable it would not be relaxing so that's a safe inference for us to make.

3:19Now if we move on to passage B let's find this predictability question and whether if it's unpredictable is it not relaxing. And passage B focuses on expectations and the way those expectations are either fulfilled or not and relaxation only happens when we have resolution.

3:37If it's unpredictable that creates buildup, well the buildup of tension and so that, let's see the more elaborate the buildup of tension the more intense the emotions will be experienced and that tension comes from you know, mismatched expectations which is one way of saying if you can't predict what is going to happen next then your expectation of what's going to happen next was wrong.

4:06So I think we've come up with enough evidence to support D that we can choose it and finally move on.