The Audience Reacts to Wrong

The American jazz pianist Barry Harris once said,

“People react to a lot of things. What I’ve found they really react to is diminished notes. See, ’cause, if you play diminished notes with something, it’ll sound like it’s wrong. And people…the ears of people react to wrong. The audience reacts to wrong. And what you have to do, you have to throw that little ‘wrong’ in, then you make it right, that messes them up. But you got their attention; it’s real weird, too, it’s really true. They’re real funny about that. People can react to a wrong note, “now I say, do you hear that, he’s playing a wrong chord in that song”. But you make it right then they don’t know what to think. So you have to fool people and people will gasp.”

To move people’s hearts with music, a special mechanism is needed. Simply flowing, stable, and mathematical music cannot move people’s hearts.
Good music contains surprises and twists, and such music is timeless.