Self-study
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
9.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ █
a
a set of ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████████
The author doesn’t refer to shared experiences across different cultures.
b
a set of ████████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████
The author doesn’t refer to experiences underlying all musical forms.
c
a set of ███████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███ ██████████
This best captures the meaning. The author believes blues and spirituals have “tapp[ed] into an aesthetic that underlies many aspects of African American culture. The author explains in P2 and P3 how this culture may be linked to the development of blues and spirituals.
d
a set of █████████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ███████ ████ ██████████████ ███████████
The author states in P2 that the African American folk tradition does not differentiate reality into “irreconcilable dichotomies.”
e
a set of ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████
The author does not refer to experiences that arise from folk music. Rather, the author refers to experiences of African Americans that may give rise to blues and spirituals.