One of the most famous and influential music theorists of the latter

Question

One of the most famous and influential music theorists of the latter half of the 20th century, John Cage is remembered for being to music what Marcel Duchamp was to art-someone who constantly questioned what defined music. One of his best-known interests was in removing the creator, the personal influence, from music and instead creating music based on natural patterns and chance (aleatory music). One of his famous works involved music created by laying musical bars over astrological maps and assigning notes based on the location of the stars and planets. Another famous work (perhaps his most famous),  4^{\prime} 33^{\prime \prime , consisted of three movements all entirely of rests: the music, rather, was created by the ambient sounds of and around the performance hall. His stated goal was to remove personal agency and purpose from music and let music act as a reflection of the natural chaos of the world, rather than as an effort to organize and improve nature.   1 
According to the passage, which of the following best paraphrases John Cage's philosophy of music?

(A) Music must be radically changed from our current notions.
(B) Music should be based in nature rather than on individual purpose.
(C)Music is not really anything, but rather whatever we wish it to be.
(D) Music is a reflection of the personal agency of the composer.
(E) Music is inherently without meaning.

Carcass · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

B

The key to understanding this question is to determine how the author of the passage describes John Cage's approach to music. In the passage, the author describes Cage as being concerned with "removing the creator, the personal influence, from music and instead creating music based on natural patterns." This points immediately to choice (B), a paraphrase of this statement. That answer is correct, but you should take care to eliminate the other options to ensure your correct response. Choice (A) may seem to describe Cage's radical departure from traditional music, but the departure itself is not described as his motivation. Choices (C) and (E) are, in essence, paraphrases of one another, claiming that music has no real definition. While this relates to Cage's question of what defined music, neither choice correctly describes his philosophy of music. Choice (D) is clearly incorrect because it directly contradicts the paraphrase of the passage seen in (B). Choice (B) is the correct answer.

dhairya18 · Answer

The passage explicitly identifies Cage's primary goal in the final sentence:
"His stated goal was to remove personal agency and purpose from music and let music act as a reflection of the natural chaos of the world..."
Choice (B) perfectly captures both sides of this coin:
"Based in nature" matches "reflection of the natural chaos."
"Rather than on individual purpose" matches "remove personal agency and purpose."

egmat · Answer

This is a  Specific Detail  question asking you to paraphrase Cage's philosophy based on what the passage directly states.

Key Insight:  The key sentence is near the end of the passage: "His stated goal was to remove personal agency and purpose from music and let music act as a reflection of the natural chaos of the world, rather than as an effort to organize and improve nature."

This sentence has  two  parts: ( 1 ) remove personal agency/purpose, and ( 2 ) let music reflect nature instead.  Choice B captures both halves perfectly — music should be based in nature rather than on individual purpose.

Why the other choices fail:

A  — "Music must be radically changed" is too vague. The passage describes how Cage wanted to change music, but this choice doesn't capture the specific direction of that change (toward nature, away from personal agency).

C  — "Whatever we wish it to be" actually  contradicts  Cage's philosophy. He wanted to remove personal wishes and intentions from music, not make it subjective.

D  — This is the  opposite  of Cage's view. He wanted to remove personal agency from music, not make music a reflection of it.

E  — "Inherently without meaning"  goes too far . Cage didn't say music is meaningless — he said it should reflect the natural world rather than impose human purpose on it. Nature still has meaning; it's just not human-imposed meaning.

Answer: B

One of the most famous and influential music theorists of the latter

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One of the most famous and influential music theorists of the latter

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