While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
● In 1971, experimental musician Pauline Oliveros created Sonic Meditations.
● Sonic Meditations is not music but rather a series of sound-based exercises called meditations.
● Each meditation consists of instructions for participants to make, imagine, listen to, or remember sounds.
● The instructions for Meditation V state, “walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears.”
● Those for Meditation XVIII state, “listen to a sound until you no longer recognize it.”
The student wants to provide an explanation and an example of Oliverosʼs Sonic Meditations. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Explanation
Answer: 1) Sonic Meditations is not music but rather a series of sound-based meditations that consist of instructions; Meditation XVIII, for instance, instructs participants to "listen to a sound until you no longer recognize it."
Goal: Provide an explanation and example of Sonic Meditations.
Why? Explanation and example requires definition plus instance. Choice 1 defines it (sound-based meditations with instructions) and gives example (Meditation XVIII).
Traps:
- B) Definition only → no specific example quoted
- C) Example only → no explanation
- D) Compares two → not explanation and example