Self-paced
P1
The term "blues" is conventionally used to refer to a state of sadness or melancholy, but to conclude from this that the musical genre of the same name is merely an expression of unrelieved sorrow is to miss its deeper meaning. ███
Intro to Topic ·
Blues (musical genre) is more than sorrow
Blues and Spirituals ·
Similar: both elicit a spiritual transformation
Blues has been called "secular spiritual."
Main Point ·
Both tap into African American culture
I suspect this is the main point. But will have to see if rest of passage supports this.
P2
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Premise ·
AA folk tradition doesn't separate secular and religious
Premise ·
Blues and spirituals try to transform sorrow into elation
Premise ·
Both forms may be linked to AA and West African culture of creating "ecstasy"
Author is theorizing here. Notice "may be linked."
P3
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Musical Mechanics ·
Blues transcend negative experience with mastery of performance
Author is talking about how blues is able to achieve the effect that it does.
Example ·
Singer is poor but performs well
By boasting, the singer is able to transcend the negative experience of being poor.
Passage Style
Single position
7.
Based on the passage, with █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████
a
The emphasis on █████████ █████████████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████████
The author never suggests that the blues are more part of organized religion than folk art. Although blues may be linked to cultures “in whose traditional religions worshippers play an active role in invoking the divine,” and may be similar to spirituals, this does not imply the author thinks blues belong more to the realm of organized religion.
b
Little of the ████████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██████████████ ██████████ █████ ██████
The author never suggests that the more modern forms of blues lack the transcendent spiritual aspect.
c
Other forms of ███████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████
The author never suggests that other forms of African American folk art rely on irony.
d
The distinctive musical █████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ██████████████
The author never identifies musical structure as the “primary” way that blues songs produce tensions between sadness and transcendence.
e
The blues may ██ ██ █████████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████