Reading Comprehension

PT104 · S2 · P1 · Q1 Miles Davis

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The career of trumpeter Miles Davis was one of the most astonishingly productive that jazz music has ever seen.

Topic

Miles Davis's career

Frameworks

Theme / Example, Highlight Something Noteworthy

Main Point

Davis's career was incredibly productive and under-appreciated, both due in part to how many stylistic evolutions Davis went through over the years.

P1 - Thesis

We might have alternatively thought of this passage with a "Theme / Example" framework, since this first paragraph really lays out the overarching theme that the rest of the paragraphs unpack: a lot of zigzags.

P2 - First Stylistic Zigzag

Davis starts as bebop but then develops "cool jazz" (slower tempos and less soloing).

P3 - Second Stylistic Zigzag

Davis breaks free from chord patterns and seeks a more open, unified sound like that of orchestral pieces. Soloists have less constraints.

P4 - Third Stylistic Zigzag

Davis starts taking on more conventions of rock music -- electrified instruments and a cut-and-paste recording process that's a violation of the norms of jazz. He takes some heat from the critics.

P5 - Author's Causal Explanation

Here the author tries to explain why Davis was frequently maligned by contemporary critics and thus has not received his proper due as the genius he was -- critics are afraid when artists broaden possibilities or defy genre categorization (as apparently they rely on those things to do their jobs).

Which one of the following best states the main point of the passage?

Because the career of Miles
Opposite Too Strong: never
Our author says in the very first sentence that Davis had one of the most astonishingly productive careers that jazz music has ever seen. So if that guy didn't fulfill his musical potential, then nobody does!
2% picked this
Correct
Because the career of Miles
Why this is right
The main clause is that "jazz critics have not accorded Davis the appreciate he deserves". That might sound too much like "complaining about critics" and not enough like "praising Davis", but 2/3 of the sentences in the first paragraph and 2/3 of the sentences in the last paragraph dealt with the critics, so it seems justifiable to be cool with them taking center stage in our correct answer. The correct answer doesn't have to be perfect (and never will be); it just has to be the best available. The final sentence of the passage matches well with "Davis's career does not fit neatly into [critics'] preconceptions" since it says "[Davis] refused to dwell in whatever niche he had previously carved, so critics find it hard to rank Davis in the aesthetic hierarchy to which they cling." The second sentence of the passage says that Davis's "genius has never received its due", which matches well with the idea that he has not been "accorded the appreciation he deserves".
Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
90% picked this
Because the career of Miles
Trap
Wrong Emphasis Out of Scope: more tragic lives The main clause of this answer should match up with the main clause of the last sentence of the passage. Both that sentence and this answer choice begin with the causal wind-up of ... Because Davis had an unusually long / productive career The last sentence says that the causal result was that "critics find it difficult to rank Davis in any of their precious aesthetic hierarchies". This answer says that the causal result was that "Davis didn't get the popular acclaim that people generally reserve for tragic artists". Those are very different meanings. This last sentence was just saying anyone with very limited recordings (because of either dying young or not just recording much or any other reason) can more easily be pigeon-holed and understood by critics. This answer is saying that there's a layer of praise we generally only use on artists who had a tragic life history, and we music consumers denied Davis that popular acclaim because he had a long and productive career.
4% picked this
The long and productive career
Too Strong: most 20th century jazz
The passage is exalting Davis for his many, major stylistic changes, but nowhere in the passage is there any extreme claim that says, "Davis was responsible for more than 50% of the major style changes affecting 20th century jazz".
4% picked this
Miles Davis’s versatility and openness
Contradicted Too Strong: most
The overall gist of this passage is that critics didn't love Davis (because he frustrated their desire to keep people in well-defined boxes) and didn't sufficiently praise him, so this answer feels like the opposite of the main point.
0% picked this

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