#21 - Most opera singers who add demanding roles to their

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (E)

In this stimulus, it is stated that most opera singers who add demanding roles to their repertoires
early in life later lose their voices prematurely. This phenomenon has been attributed to their
immature voices and insufficient vocal power. In typical LSAT fashion, the writer dismisses this
attribution, asserting that the real reason is that most young singers have insufficient technical
training to avoid straining their vocal chords, especially when singing at full strength.

The question stem asks which answer choice the stimulus most strongly supports.

Answer choice (A): The author of the stimulus primarily discusses young opera singers with great
vocal power, so we have no basis for drawing any conclusion about young opera singers without
great vocal power.

Answer choice (B): The assertion that some young opera singers with immature vocal chords ruin
their voices singing demanding roles is specifically dismissed by the author of the stimulus, so this
answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): While the author hypothesizes that the problem with many of these singers
is a lack of training, the time required for such training is never specified, so we cannot draw the
conclusion that many years of training are required before singing demanding roles.

Answer choice (D): It is not maturity that allows one to safely take on demanding roles, according to
the author, but proper training. A young opera singer with proper training could tackle a demanding
role, the author would likely assert, and still manage to avoid strained vocal chords, so this answer
choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. From the first sentence of the stimulus we
know that most young opera singers who take on demanding roles at young ages lose their voices
early, and we are later told that the real problem is that most young singers lack the technical training
to avoid straining their vocal chords, so it is a logical inference that the referenced loss of voice
would be attributable to vocal strain.

[moshei24]

Hi,

I chose (B), and why the answer is (E) isn't completely clear to me.

I think it's something along the lines of: the argument goes from saying that the reason young opera singers lose their voice when they add demanding roles is because their voices have not yet matured, but then the argument goes on to say that no, in general, young singers lack the training needed to avoid straining their vocal cords ("especially when using their full vocal strength" is fluff, correct?)

So in the end the argument concludes that most young singers strain their vocal cords (and in the end lose their voices), which would include young opera singers. That's why (B) is wrong because it's according to the original thought of the stimulus, not the concluding thought.

The reason it's (E) is because we know that most young opera singers who sing demanding roles lose their voices early, and at the end of the argument we learn that it was because the straining of the cords inevitably leads to a shortened singing career (i.e. losing their voices early).

Can you clear this up a little bit, please? I think I got it, but it would be nice to see how someone else would explain it. Maybe even break it down part by part. That would be great.

Thanks!

[Steve Stein]

Hey Moshe,

Thanks for your question. That one opens with the point that most opera singers who take on demanding roles too early lose their voices. The author says that while some believe this is based on a lack of maturity in their young voices, the real culprit is the lack of technical training that would have helped them avoid such strain.

Answer choice E, as you correctly point out, can be confirmed between the first sentence, which says that most such singers lose their voices early, and the last sentence, which says the reason is the lack of technical training that would have helped them to avoid the strain.

The problem with answer choice B is that the author says a lack of maturity is not "the real problem"--that's the lack of technical training.

I hope that's helpful! Please let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[moshei24]

Thank you, Steve. After hacking my brain at it a little longer after I posted my question here, I figured out how the question worked. Thanks!

[Steve Stein]

Hey Moshe,

No problem--glad I could help!

~Steve

[mpoulson]

Hello,

I'm still having trouble breaking down this argument to arrive at answer E. Can you please explain the steps to arrive at this answer choice in a simple way? Thank you.

- Micah

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi Micah,

Basically, the idea here is connecting sentence 4 back to sentence 1. Essentially, sentence 4 is telling us the reason singers lose their voices--it is because they strain their vocal chords. So we know that most singers who add demanding roles lose their voices, and those who lose their voices lose them because of strained vocal chords. That, combined, gets us to E. Does that help?

[LSATer]

Hi,

So I got this question right by process of elimination but I am having trouble connecting sentence 1 and 4 to come up with answer choice E.

I think for me, the confusion is with sentence 3 "But young singers with great vocal power are the most likely to ruin their voices." When I read this sentence, I see a conflict with answer choice E. I understand it as: Yes, MOST opera singers who add demanding roles to their repertoires at a young age lose their voice early, BUT (it is really) young opera singers with great vocal power who are the most likely to ruin their voices and here is why....


So then, I don't understand how E is right. How do we know that "MOST young opera singers who sing demanding roles strain their vocal cords? It seems the author is referring to those "young singers with great vocal power."

Thank you for your help,

LSATer

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, LSATer,

This is a fascinating question and a great chance to engage with a Must Be True stimulus to attempt to ascertain what can be known from the statements therein.

Good job getting it right from process of elimination, but let's do as you propose and see what it would take to connect the statements together to generate a useful prephrase. I'll diagram this out, but as I diagram, I'm going to give a paraphrase of how you might think through this:

• YOS w DR LVE
  "So most of these young singers who do demanding roles lose their voices.
  
  "Some people say this; some people say that. No useful, definite info from these next two statements. 'The real problem is...'
  Okay now we're in business."
  
  YOS TT
  "Okay so most of these young singers lack technical training. What's this technical training necessary for? It's necessary not to strain vocal cords in demanding roles."
  
  SVC (from DR) TT
  Contrapositive: TT SVC (from DR)
  
  "Next statement talks about inevitable. That's helpful. What's inevitable? Seems like when you strain vocal cords, that means losing voice early is inevitable.
  
  SVC LVE
  
  "So how can I put this all together?"
  
  YOS (w DR) TT SVC (from DR) LVE
  
  "Most young singers (doing demanding roles) lack the technical training to avoid straining their vocal cords (from these demanding roles), so they lose their voices early.

These are your connections in the stimulus. Definitely a tough nut to crack. My recommendation might be in part to keep things simple. Ask yourself who you do know something about?

• Young opera singers doing demanding roles

What else do you know about?

• There seems to be a connection between doing these demanding roles, lacking technical training, straining vocal cords, and losing voice early.

With these two observations, you can anticipate that the credited response will likely talk about "Young opera singers doing demanding roles" and how they lack "technical training," so they either "strain their vocal chords" or "lose their voices early."

This way you can simplify your life. Compare these observations to the answer choices.

(A) Don't care about the YOS w/o great vocal power.
(B) No, it's not about the vocal chord maturity. It's about the training.
(C) "Only" this. Don't like it very much.
(D) "Only" that. Don't like it very much either.
(E) "Most" well, okay... YOS, demanding roles, SVC. Seems to go along with what we might be able to support. Best option.

I hope this helps!

[LSATer]

Thank you! I had to take a little break from this question and then come back to it. It makes so much more sense now.

Thanks!

LSATer