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- Tue Nov 21, 2023 2:15 pm
#104082
Passage Discussion
VIEWSTAMP Analysis:
We get two primary Viewpoints here: first of the "typical accounts of jazz," a version of history espoused by certain writers. Then, in the last paragraph, we get our author's point of view, which contradicts those "typical accounts."
The Structure of the passage is as follows:
Paragraph One: This paragraph tells us that accounts of the beginnings of bebop, the first modern jazz style, are rooted in commercialism. These typical accounts say that, in the 1940s, the most popular jazz style, swing, was "formulaic," uncreative, and worn down ("threadbare.") These accounts are also quoted as saying that swing was also in a "billion-dollar rut"—implying that it was no longer commercially successful.
Paragraph Two: This paragraph tells us that those typical accounts echo the "crisis theory" of earlier classical music, wherein classical music stubbornly refused to modernize even once its conventions were overused, leading to classical music falling out of favor in the early 1900s. These accounts imply that something similar happened to jazz in the 1940s: musicians failed to do new, creative things with swing, so a new musical form replaced it.
Paragraph Three: Our author says that the writers of those accounts believe that commercialism caused the downfall of swing, and that money motivated musicians to keep making tired, "threadbare" music even after it was creatively bankrupt. According to those accounts, bebop was the "explosion" that created a new, creative, exciting form of jazz. In this version of history, our author writes, jazz progresses from something that is commercial and popular ("dance, popular song") to something that is artistic and non-commercial.
Paragraph Four: The final paragraph introduces our author's beliefs about this version of history. It suits the needs of contemporary opinions about jazz, the author writes, but it ignores the fact that commerce affects all art. The author argues that, for the musicians who originated bebop, capitalism defined "musician" as a profession, which made artistic experimentation possible. Rather than freeing themselves, and jazz, from commercialism, they instead just found a new way to engage with it.
The author's Tone is skeptical, but not aggressive; the author understands why historians want to believe that bebop was anticommercial, but disagrees with them.
The Main Point of the passage is reflected in the first sentence of the final paragraph—that these typical accounts misrepresent bebop's relationship to commercialism.
VIEWSTAMP Analysis:
We get two primary Viewpoints here: first of the "typical accounts of jazz," a version of history espoused by certain writers. Then, in the last paragraph, we get our author's point of view, which contradicts those "typical accounts."
The Structure of the passage is as follows:
Paragraph One: This paragraph tells us that accounts of the beginnings of bebop, the first modern jazz style, are rooted in commercialism. These typical accounts say that, in the 1940s, the most popular jazz style, swing, was "formulaic," uncreative, and worn down ("threadbare.") These accounts are also quoted as saying that swing was also in a "billion-dollar rut"—implying that it was no longer commercially successful.
Paragraph Two: This paragraph tells us that those typical accounts echo the "crisis theory" of earlier classical music, wherein classical music stubbornly refused to modernize even once its conventions were overused, leading to classical music falling out of favor in the early 1900s. These accounts imply that something similar happened to jazz in the 1940s: musicians failed to do new, creative things with swing, so a new musical form replaced it.
Paragraph Three: Our author says that the writers of those accounts believe that commercialism caused the downfall of swing, and that money motivated musicians to keep making tired, "threadbare" music even after it was creatively bankrupt. According to those accounts, bebop was the "explosion" that created a new, creative, exciting form of jazz. In this version of history, our author writes, jazz progresses from something that is commercial and popular ("dance, popular song") to something that is artistic and non-commercial.
Paragraph Four: The final paragraph introduces our author's beliefs about this version of history. It suits the needs of contemporary opinions about jazz, the author writes, but it ignores the fact that commerce affects all art. The author argues that, for the musicians who originated bebop, capitalism defined "musician" as a profession, which made artistic experimentation possible. Rather than freeing themselves, and jazz, from commercialism, they instead just found a new way to engage with it.
The author's Tone is skeptical, but not aggressive; the author understands why historians want to believe that bebop was anticommercial, but disagrees with them.
The Main Point of the passage is reflected in the first sentence of the final paragraph—that these typical accounts misrepresent bebop's relationship to commercialism.
