Self-study
This passage was adapted from an article published in 2003.
P1
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Intro to Topic ·
Wynton Marsalis, important jazz musician
Great musician and promoter of jazz.
Phenomenon ·
Marsalis and jazz face uncertain future
Critics are unhappy with "neotraditionalism." Not sure what that means but passage will probably explain later.
P2
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Phenomenon Details ·
Marsalis and jazz's decline
Marsalis stopped releasing CDs; no active contract with record companies; Columbia Records no longer investing in jazz musicians.
P3
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Critics Hypothesis ·
Marsalis' neotraditionalism is to blame for decline
Marsalis was looking backwards to jazz orthodoxy and inhibited innovation which resulted in stagnation. This is what was meant by "neotraditionalism."
P4
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Author’s Concession ·
Marsalis did emphasize past masters
Author’s Rebuttal ·
But Marsalis recombined traditional elements to push jazz forward
So it wasn't just neotraditionalism, as the critics claim.
Author's Hypothesis ·
Record labels are to blame
If past artists are so great, then just repackage their music and stop investing so much money in new talent.
P5
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Author’s Hypothesis ·
Record labels' profit motives are to blame
Marsalis and young talent saw past masters as role models. Critics thought they were idolizing past master. Record labels saw past masters as profit.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
3.
The author would most likely ██ ████ ████████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ██
a
critics were to ██████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████████████
This doesn’t involve record companies’ development of new artists. Although the author disagrees with the critics’ criticism of Marsalis, this doesn’t imply the author wants them to “soften” their criticism or is unhappy that those critics are airing their views. One can disagree with others while also accepting that they should be allowed to express those views.
b
Marsalis were to ████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████
This doesn’t involve record companies’ development of new artists. The author expresses a negative view about record companies’ failure to develop new artists. So the author would be happier about the state of jazz if record companies were developing new artists.
c
Marsalis were to █████ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████
This doesn’t involve record companies’ development of new artists. The author expresses a negative view about record companies’ failure to develop new artists. So the author would be happier about the state of jazz if record companies were developing new artists.
d
record companies were ██ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████████
This best captures what we know would make the author more likely to be less negative about the state of jazz. The author expresses a
e
young jazz musicians ████ ██ █████ █ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ █████████ ██████████
This doesn’t involve record companies’ development of new artists. The author expresses a negative view about record companies’ failure to develop new artists. So the author would be happier about the state of jazz if record companies were developing new artists.