LSAT 58 - Section 1 - Question 10

The question stem reads: The music historian's statements, if true, most strongly support which one of the following? This is a Most Strongly Supported question.

The historian claims that impoverished post-war recording studios forced bebop musicians to record extremely short solos, which is a fact that some critics find upsetting. Those critics find it upsetting because the short solo is a "misrepresentation" of their music. However, the historian counters that claim by explaining that the extreme shortness of the solos makes them "superb artistic works instead of mere representations of their live music." In other words, the historian actually thinks that short solos are not just a shortened version of the bebop musicians' live music, but that the short recordings stand on their own as beautiful music. The historian continues by saying that the concise characteristic of the early (post-war) bebop musicians' solo recording influenced the "compactness" of their live music, which the following generation of bebop musicians lacks. What makes music compact? We’re not sure, but according to the historian, live postwar bebop music had “compactness,” while later live bebop music did not. To recap, post-war bebop solo recordings were short because the studios didn't have money. The short solos were pretty good because they were beautifully concise. The short recordings of solos influenced a "compactness" to post-war live music. The later generations' bebop music was not compact.

Answer Choice (A) is incorrect because the stimulus does not suggest that representations of live solos are bad, only that the short live recordings were quite good. Furthermore, even if the stimulus claimed that representations of bebop live solos were bad, (A) would still be incorrect for drawing a general rule (about all music) from a specific instance (claims about bebop music).

Correct Answer Choice (B) claims that the post-war conditions had some beneficial consequences for bebop. The post-war conditions forced the recordings of solos to be short. The recordings, which were quite good on their own, influenced the compactness of the live music. So on the historian's account, the postwar conditions did benefit bebop.

Answer Choice (C) is incorrect. The stimulus claims that during the postwar period, the solos of bebop recordings were short. We don't know if the duration of the entire song was shorter. Even if we conceded that the tracks themselves were shorter, (C) would still be incorrect. The historian does not compare short and long bebop recordings; she simply claims that the short recordings (of solos) were quite good. We do not know what the historians think of long recordings; it's possible that she might think that longer is always better.

Answer Choice (D) is incorrect because it makes too strong of a claim. The historian claims that the next generation of bebop music lacks "compactness." While it is plausible to assume that the historian believes "compactness" is good and the lack thereof is bad, "compactness" is only one characteristic of music. While the next generation falls short in compactness, they might make up for it in other parts of their music. This is an example of a fallacy of composition (part to whole).

Answer Choice (E) makes a similar mistake as (A) by drawing a general rule about musicians from specific claims about bebop music. Additionally, even if (E) made a more limited claim about bebop musicians, it would still be incorrect. We know that post-war bebop solo recordings were short due to the impoverished conditions of the studios. But maybe bebop musicians now choose to record short solos for aesthetic reasons.