Additional evidence | Humanities passage | Music

- [Instructor] Which one of the following most undermines the explanation provided in passage A for the relaxing effect that some music has on listeners. So we're looking for something that is going to undermine an explanation provided in passage A. So the best thing we can do, don't look at the choices, don't waste anytime with that. You head up, and you look for the explanation in passage A for the relaxing effect that some music has on listeners. What we're really looking for is the word relaxing in passage A, and the explanation for it. Let's go up. Here's relaxing in the third paragraph, we don't need to go up to the top. Certain music can also have a relaxing effect. Oh yeah, why? We're looking for that explanation. The fact that such music tends to be continuous and rhythmical, so now you remember, oh right, it's continuous and rhythmical because it's not dangerous, it's that, let's see, a background of constant noise suggests peaceful conditions, so peaceful conditions, constant noise, is relaxing. Relaxing is continuous, that's the explanation. Let's go back and see what we can undermine that with for the right answer. It's relaxing because it's continuous. Okay, so how do we undermine that? We find out that some continuous noises are actually not relaxing. That would undermine the explanation A. The musical traditions of different cultures vary greatly in terms of the complexity of they rhythms they employ. Okay, that's not connected to this relaxation thing, so that cannot be right. B, the rhythmic structure of a language is determined in part by the patterns of stressed syllables in the words and sentences of the language. About the rhythmic structure? No, it's about the explanation for the relaxing effect. That connection is not undermining, and it doesn't effect this explanation for what is relaxing and what is not. C, many people find the steady and rhythmic sound of a rocking chair to be very unnerving. So this is steady and rhythmic, and it's not relaxing at all, it's very unnerving. This undermines the explanation in passage A. C looks super good. I would probably just circle C and move on, but let's look at D and E, and see if they represent common types of errors you'll see in questions like this. D, the sudden interruption of the expected development of a melody tends to interfere with listeners' perception of the melody as coherent. That's not about this relaxation question, and connecting relaxation to steady continuous sound. Not related. E, some of the most admired contemporary composers write music that is notably simpler than is most of the music written in previous centuries. Okay, so the admiration of contemporary composers versus for writing music that is simpler, again not connected to the relaxation explanation that the question is asking about. So, E is not the answer. The answer must be C. Now we find these answers, in part because we predict what we're looking for before we look at the choices. Because again if you get stuck in reading the choices first, and all the choices start sounding good, and you don't know what you're looking for, you're gonna wind up looking at each choice and taking that choice back to the passage and trying to figure whether it makes sense. And that is not the best use of your time. You're gonna save a lot more time going back, and getting the answer in your own words correct as a prediction than going through the choices one-by-one, and trying to figure out whether they might work, and giving them the benefit of the doubt. They don't deserve the benefit of the doubt, and you're much better served by knowing what you want before you start looking.