PT21.S4.P1 - Musicologists concerned with the "London Pianoforte School"

Ashley2018-1

Paragraph 1:
This mostly relates to #2
The explanation video states that evidence for answer choice E lies in lines 5-8 in the first paragraph, but how I can infer that even musicians didn't know about the London Pianoforte School? Could I infer from the content of the passage that the author is in the field of music?

4: How could I tell that the question wants me to focus on a causal relationship?

Admin note: https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-21-section-4-passage-1-passage/
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-21-section-4-passage-1-questions/

canihazJD

@Ashley25 said:
Paragraph 1:
This mostly relates to #2
The explanation video states that evidence for answer choice E lies in lines 5-8 in the first paragraph, but how I can infer that even musicians didn't know about the London Pianoforte School? Could I infer from the content of the passage that the author is in the field of music?

The first paragraph tell us it is generally unavailable, even to musicologists, as it has vanished from our historical consciousness... from a historical perspective we aren't even aware that it existed. The "has been" in AC E means that it was little known... regardless of who knows it now. Also A-D are unsupported.

4: How could I tell that the question wants me to focus on a causal relationship?

You have to get your stem right before you move into the ACs. Here you are DOA if you even try this. The stem references Ringer's argument, so first identify the argument: The laws of artistic survival forced Beethoven to turn outside Austria for creative models, toward London. What was the support for this claim? When you identify that, you have your argument. Now look for the answer that weakens it.

Ashley2018-1

Agh, I thought the argument was causal, like the London Pianists influenced Continental (European) musicians and the example with Beethoven and the Broadwood Piano was meant to highlight that relationship

Thanks for responding

canihazJD

@Ashley25 said:
Agh, I thought the argument was causal, like the London Pianists influenced Continental (European) musicians and the example with Beethoven and the Broadwood Piano was meant to highlight that relationship

Thanks for responding

You're welcome! Thanks for posting your difficulties here. You likely helped many future and present people with the same questions that didn't want/know to ask.

Remember that you need to be spot on with everything they give you to read, because it it likely phrased in a way that is intentionally meant to be confusing. Take the time up front to understand. It will pay off.

Ashley2018-1

@canihazJD said:

@Ashley25 said:
Agh, I thought the argument was causal, like the London Pianists influenced Continental (European) musicians and the example with Beethoven and the Broadwood Piano was meant to highlight that relationship

Thanks for responding

You're welcome! Thanks for posting your difficulties here. You likely helped many future and present people with the same questions that didn't want/know to ask.

Remember that you need to be spot on with everything they give you to read, because it it likely phrased in a way that is intentionally meant to be confusing. Take the time up front to understand. It will pay off.

Reviving this thread...for #2, how could we infer that there were original scores in existence? The first paragraph does state that some sonatas are "familiar enough" but isn't that a bit of a jump or is the fact that they are familiar enough evidence to show that the scores for these pieces did exist?

I finally broke down and did a google search and yes, the author of this article is indeed a musicologist and published this article in the American School of Musicology...

canihazJD

@Ashley2018 said:
Reviving this thread...for #2, how could we infer that there were original scores in existence? The first paragraph does state that some sonatas are "familiar enough" but isn't that a bit of a jump or is the fact that they are familiar enough evidence to show that the scores for these pieces did exist?

The pieces are named in the passage, and it states they are still included in editions albeit less-scholarly ones. So if we still have the music, I would say that tells us it in fact exists. Also yes, I don't think we would we be familiar with them if they never existed.

Also not sure if this is what you're getting at, but the author being in the music field has no bearing on this question.

Ashley2018-1

@canihazJD said:

@Ashley2018 said:
Reviving this thread...for #2, how could we infer that there were original scores in existence? The first paragraph does state that some sonatas are "familiar enough" but isn't that a bit of a jump or is the fact that they are familiar enough evidence to show that the scores for these pieces did exist?

The pieces are named in the passage, and it states they are still included in editions albeit less-scholarly ones. So if we still have the music, I would say that tells us it in fact exists. Also yes, I don't think we would we be familiar with them if they never existed.

Also not sure if this is what you're getting at, but the author being in the music field has no bearing on this question.

Oh yeah, I know. I just had the feeling that the author was a musicologist or was at least in the field of music after reading paragraph 1, and I asked in the comments below the video explanation for this passage whether he was and people were debating for days...so I did a google search and could finally lay this question to rest.

Could I think of the answer to #2 in two ways? That the music of the LP school is generally unavailable (has vanished from our historical consciousness) to the public (which includes musicians) and that even musicologists can't get their hands on it so it's reasonable to assume musicians can't either...