Musicologist: Musical counterpoint the playing of several melodic

Question

Musicologist: Musical counterpoint – the playing of several melodic lines at the same time – is widely believed to have first been practiced in the 9th century. However, a recently discovered piece of music that uses counterpoint is inscribed with a date from the mid-700s. It must be that counterpoint was in use prior to the 9th century.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the musicologist’s argument?

(A) The recently discovered piece of music is known to have been composed by a man who lived into the 800s.
(B) Composers would, on occasion, add additional melodic lines to existing pieces long after the piece was originally written.
(C) The church library in which the recently discovered piece was found had been in continuous use from 650 to 1220.
(D) Some experts on early music believe that the reason for the belief that counterpoint started in the 9th century is based on insufficient evidence.
(E) A great deal of music from the mid-700s uses techniques that were later incorporated into the musical counterpoint of the following century and beyond.

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Question 43: Musical Counterpoint

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Sc44 · Answer

Caught up in a word lived into the - does it mean lived through mid 700s to 800s

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Sumi1010 · Answer

Evidence  : A recently discovered piece of music that uses counterpoint  is inscribed  with a date from the mid-700s.
 Conclusion : It must be that counterpoint was in use prior to the 9th century.

Prethink: 
The conclusion is based  only  on the inscription of counterpoints found from mid-700s. 
To weaken, the argument we must validate the evidence. If there is any possibility that the evidence is tempered or inadequate, we can question the argument.

(A) The  recently discovered  piece of music is known to have been  composed by a man who lived into the 800s. 
 What if the person lived into 800s but composed the music much later. We have no idea when did he compose the music. 
(B) Composers would, on occasion,  add additional melodic lines  to existing pieces long after the piece was originally written.
 This looks fascinating. If the inscription has been tampered , the argument's conclusion falls apart. Hold on .
(C) The church library in which the recently discovered piece was found had been in continuous use from 650 to 1220.
 Irrelevant as it does not help in any derivation.  
(D) Some experts on early music believe that the reason for the belief that counterpoint started in the 9th century is based on insufficient evidence.
 Opinions of some people often differ. Disagreement/opinion of some people does not add any value in the argument.  
 Note -  This is a common trap in GMAT CR.  
(E) A great deal of  music from the mid-700s uses techniques that were later incorporated  into the musical counterpoint of the following century and beyond.
 This looks fascinating. However there is a problem. The argument is based on the inscription of the music lines. Techniques are not inscribed and even if they could be, those techniques may pertain to anything e.g notes, tunes, pitch etc. We can't say that common techniques resulted into counterpoint .

IMO  B

winterschool · Answer

Musicologist: Musical counterpoint – the playing of several melodic lines at the same time – is widely believed to have first been practiced in the 9th century. However, a recently discovered piece of music that uses counterpoint is inscribed with a date from the mid-700s. It must be that counterpoint was in use prior to the 9th century.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the musicologist’s argument?

(A) The recently discovered piece of music is known to have been composed by a man who lived into the 800s.  Incorrect

it support argument

(B) Composers would, on occasion, add additional melodic lines to existing pieces long after the piece was originally written.  Correct

counterpoint in the mid-700s music pieces added later

(C) The church library in which the recently discovered piece was found had been in continuous use from 650 to 1220.  Irrelevant

(D) Some experts on early music believe that the reason for the belief that counterpoint started in the 9th century is based on insufficient evidence.  Incorrect

support argument

(E) A great deal of music from the mid-700s uses techniques that were later incorporated into the musical counterpoint of the following century and beyond.  Incorrect

support argument

callmeDP · Answer

Musicologist: Musical counterpoint – the playing of several melodic lines at the same time – is widely believed to have first been practiced in the 9th century. However, a recently discovered piece of music that uses counterpoint is inscribed with a date from the mid-700s. It must be that counterpoint was in use prior to the 9th century.
 
 Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the musicologist’s argument? 
 
(A) The recently discovered piece of music is known to have been composed by a man who lived into the 800s.  - strengthen the claim, INCORRECT

(B) Composers would, on occasion, add additional melodic lines to existing pieces long after the piece was originally written. -  Correct, suggests that even though music may be created before 9th, it was later added with melodic lines.

(C) The church library in which the recently discovered piece was found had been in continuous use from 650 to 1220. -  INCORRECT

(D) Some experts on early music believe that the reason for the belief that counterpoint started in the 9th century is based on insufficient evidence. -  INCORRECT

(E) A great deal of music from the mid-700s uses techniques that were later incorporated into the musical counterpoint of the following century and beyond. -  INCORRECT

IMO B

RohitSaluja · Answer

IMO B is the answer

A) The recently discovered piece of music is known to have been composed by a man who lived into the 800s - Does not helps address the main conclusion, the main point in the argument is about playing several melodic lines together, the composer may have very well collated existing pieces of music to compose

(B) Composers would, on occasion, add additional melodic lines to existing pieces long after the piece was originally written. - This weakens the argument, if composers is adding additional details after the piece was written, they can very well tamper it. hence the answer

(C) The church library in which the recently discovered piece was found had been in continuous use from 650 to 1220. - Irrelevant to the main argument

(D) Some experts on early music believe that the reason for the belief that counterpoint started in the 9th century is based on insufficient evidence. - Based on the opinion, while the argument is stated on evidence

(E) A great deal of music from the mid-700s uses techniques that were later incorporated into the musical counterpoint of the following century and beyond. - Irrelevant to the argument as it only tallks about techniques

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hi  Sc44 ! Thanks for asking!

If you're referring to option A, then when it says the person "lived into the 800s," that means the person was born in the 700s, but died after the year 800. Check out our official explanation in the comments for more on how to tackle this question.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation:

Musicologist: Musical counterpoint – the playing of several melodic lines at the same time – is widely believed to have first been practiced in the 9th century. However, a recently discovered piece of music that uses counterpoint is inscribed with a date from the mid-700s. It must be that counterpoint was in use prior to the 9th century.
 
 Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the musicologist’s argument? 
 
 (A) The recently discovered piece of music is known to have been composed by a man who lived into the 800s. 
 (B) Composers would, on occasion, add additional melodic lines to existing pieces long after the piece was originally written. 
 (C) The church library in which the recently discovered piece was found had been in continuous use from 650 to 1220. 
 (D) Some experts on early music believe that the reason for the belief that counterpoint started in the 9th century is based on insufficient evidence. 
 (E) A great deal of music from the mid-700s uses techniques that were later incorporated into the musical counterpoint of the following century and beyond.

Question Type:   Weaken
  Boil It Down:   Musicologists previously assumed counterpoint was first used in the 9th century, but a recent discovery shows it was used before the 9th century. The musicologist argues that counterpoint existed before the 9th century.
  Goal:    Find the option that, if true, would best weaken the musicologist’s argument.

Analysis:  
This question asks for a piece of information that would weaken the conclusion made by the musicologist.
 
 Conclusion:  It  must  be that counterpoint was in use prior to the 9th century.
 
 Evidence:  A piece with counterpoint is inscribed with a date from the 700s.
 
If, as choice B states, composers would add melodic lines to older pieces, it could be that the piece dated from the 700s did not use counterpoint. This was added afterwards, perhaps during the 9th century or later.

(A) The recently discovered piece of music is known to have been composed by a man who lived into the 800s.
 The fact remains that the piece was dated in the 700s, regardless of when the composer died.

(B) Composers would, on occasion, add additional melodic lines to existing pieces long after the piece was originally written.
 This is the correct choice. If this is true, then we cannot verify that the counterpoint notes were original to the piece - it could have easily been added later.

(C) The church library in which the recently discovered piece was found had been in continuous use from 650 to 1220.
 This is irrelevant to the conclusion.

(D) Some experts on early music believe that the reason for the belief that counterpoint started in the 9th century is based on insufficient evidence.
 If anything, this strengthens the conclusion.

(E) A great deal of music from the mid-700s uses techniques that were later incorporated into the musical counterpoint of the following century and beyond.
 The only technique that is under discussion is counterpoint. Other techniques are irrelevant.

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Musicologist: Musical counterpoint the playing of several melodic

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Musicologist: Musical counterpoint the playing of several melodic

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