Nearly all the music heard at an orchestral performance today contains

Question

Nearly all the music heard at an orchestral performance today contains pitch relationships that do not precisely match those that musical instruments naturally produce. This is because the members of a modern orchestra read musical notation that, more than 99% of the time, represents a tempered system of tuning. In the tempered system, certain pitch relationships are slightly altered from those that naturally occur in vibrating bodies such as musical instruments. In non-tempered tuning systems, these relationships are not altered.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A. Because of lifelong exposure to tempered tuning systems, most people perceive music written using non-tempered tuning systems as being out-of-tune.

B. Orchestra musicians always play music exactly as it is notated.

C. The tempered tuning system is used by the vast majority of jazz and rock musicians.

D. The standard orchestral repertoire is drawn from music written during the last three centuries, during which time composers have almost always used musical notation that represents the tempered system of tuning.

E. The tempered system of tuning allows musicians to make key changes more easily than does the non-tempered.

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

Nearly all the music heard at an orchestral performance today contains pitch relationships that do not precisely match those that musical instruments naturally produce. This is because the members of a modern orchestra read musical notation that, more than 99% of the time, represents a tempered system of tuning. In the tempered system, certain pitch relationships are slightly altered from those that naturally occur in vibrating bodies such as musical instruments. In non-tempered tuning systems, these relationships are not altered.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A. Because of lifelong exposure to tempered tuning systems, most people perceive music written using non-tempered tuning systems as being out-of-tune.   how people perceive written music does not make an impact here and how musicians in orchestra interprets and act on the interpretation is what matters.

B. Orchestra musicians always play music exactly as it is notated.   Correct as it is coherent with the explanation between the conclusion and the premise used to explain the scenario.

C. The tempered tuning system is used by the vast majority of jazz and rock musicians.   the argument focuses on orchestral performance and not on jazz or rock.

D.  The standard orchestral repertoire is drawn from music written during the last three centuries, during which time composers have almost always used musical notation that represents the tempered system of tuning.   the origin of repertoire is not discussed in the argument

E. The tempered system of tuning allows musicians to make key changes more easily than does the non-tempered 
this is out of scope as whether the tempered system allows musicians to make key changes easily is out of scope in the argument.

NinetyFour · Answer

Tough question, I got this wrong and selected D

My understanding for why this is incorrect is because even if the composers have written the music to represent tempered system of tuning, the musicians could always alter how the play the music, so there is still a gap in logic to the argument that "all the music heard at an orchestral performance today contains pitch relationships that do not precisely match those that musical instruments naturally produce."

Please let me know if my logic is incorrect.

siddharthfrancis · Answer

can someone explain why B and not E ???

komalpatna · Answer

B and D are the closest answer: Explanation below

A. Because of lifelong exposure to tempered tuning systems, most people perceive music written using non-tempered tuning systems as being out-of-tune.

B. Orchestra musicians always play music exactly as it is notated.

With the help of the premise it completes the correct answer. 
C. The tempered tuning system is used by the vast majority of jazz and rock musicians.

D. The standard orchestral repertoire is drawn from music written during the last three centuries, during which time composers have almost always used musical notation that represents the tempered system of tuning.

Not standard, all orchestral perfomance should have tempered tuning.
E. The tempered system of tuning allows musicians to make key changes more easily than does the non-tempered.

arvind910619 · Answer

My friend here is the original question.

Nearly all the music heard at an orchestral performance today contains pitch relationships that do not precisely match those that musical instruments naturally produce. This is because the members of a modern orchestra read musical notation that, more than 99% of the time, represents a tempered system of tuning. In the tempered system, certain pitch relationships are slightly altered from those that naturally occur in vibrating bodies such as musical instruments. In non-tempered tuning systems, these relationships are not altered.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

If the information above is correct, which of the following can be most properly concluded?

B. Orchestra musicians always play music exactly as it is notated. 
E. The tempered system of tuning allows musicians to make key changes more easily than does the non-tempered.

B says that the Orchestra musicians always play music exactly as it is notated. This is a very serious thing. If they do not always play music as as it is notated then we can not say for sure which music is which and the argument falls apart. We can not distinguish between music.

E Ease of change is not discussed in the argument rather it is musical notation. Out of scope.

ricardorr04 · Answer

1:26, chose B. Everything else is out of scope.

if you try to negate B it renders that argument invalid.

thank u!

sayan640 · Answer

KarishmaB   MartyMurray 
Chose D in place of B..Can you please help ?

liberoasperiores · Answer

With option B, I believe its trying to eliminate another factor.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

Claim in the argument:  Nearly all orchestral music heard today contains pitch relationships that dont match natural ones because musicians read notation that represents a tempered tuning system.

For that causal chain to hold, we need assurance that what is notated is actually what gets played.  Choice B  directly supplies that missing link:

If orchestra musicians always play music exactly as it is notated, and the notation represents a tempered system more than 99% of the time, Then it strongly follows that the music heard will reflect tempered (non-natural) pitch relationships. That makes  B  the strongest support.

A:  Talks about perception, not whether music actually contains altered pitch relationships.

C:  Jazz and rock are irrelevant to orchestral performances.

D:  Supports how common tempered notation is historically, but doesn’t connect notation to what is heard.

E:  Explains a benefit of tempered tuning, not why orchestral music today uses it.

Answer: B

Nearly all the music heard at an orchestral performance today contains

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Nearly all the music heard at an orchestral performance today contains

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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