September 2009 LSAT - Section 2 - Question 27

It can be inferred that both authors would be likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

lowe1sl November 7, 2019

Help Please.

Why D. and not E? I could not find the part in the passages that justifies D.

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Irina November 7, 2019

@lowe1sl,

Passage A tells us that continuous and rhythmical music tends to have a relaxing effect (lines 18-21) suggesting that music that lacks a predictable course, i.e. opposite of continuous and rhythmical is unlikely to have a relaxing effect. Passage B tells us that certain elements such as a change of the melodic line or rhythm, i.e. lack of a predictable course, create expectation, which in turns create tension (lines 30-37), and tension is the opposite of relaxation, thus allowing us to infer that music that lacks a predictable course likely creates tension rather than relaxation.

The issue with (E) is that it is too strong of a statement. It is true that "discontinuous sounds ..can be disturbing" (lines 25-27) and negative emotions may result from an extreme mismatch between expectations and experience (lines 46-48) but we cannot conclude that this specific change- from soft to loud - is, in fact, disturbing and unpleasant to MOST listeners.

Veda-Bhadharla July 29, 2020

I am still confused. Passage B talks about predictability, but passage A doesn't really. In my mind, continuous and rhythmical doesn't necessarily equate to it being predictable.