That sounds like I'm suggesting that the reader trust music, but I'm actually talking about trustworthiness. I went to a show last night featuring a free jazz combo, a saxophonist, a drummer and a multi-instrumentalist. The latter, a young woman, started out making improbable noises by beating hell out of a shampoo bottle with a stick, including a tympani solo. After that, I never knew what to expect. When she opened up her toy xylophone, I wouldn't have been surprised if it sounded like Jimi Hendrix playing the National Anthem. Mind you, it didn't; it sounded like a toy xylophone. But I think it's a good idea for musicians to wrong-foot the audience as soon as possible to keep us guessing.
Later, she switched to accordion. It was the most heavy metal accordion of all time. Somehow, she hit almost all dissonant chords. I'm pretty sure this was entirely intentional; in my experience of accordions, it's actually pretty hard to make unpretty noises. (I mean, the name says it.) The band blew up totally; it was absolutely awesome. So maybe I DID mean "Trust music."
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