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"...Do you think dissonance reflects a little more than 'hitting the wrong note?'

Rich: Dissonance really has nothing to do with hitting the “wrong” notes and everything to do with using your instrument as a kind of voice that is engaged in a discussion with the other voices of other players and instruments. It may sound like the “wrong” notes are being played in an improvisation, but in fact, the only "wrong" notes in an improvisation are those that are not responsive to the sounds that others are making.

Chris: I don't actually have a working definition of dissonance in my head, so I cannot really answer this question. The word has few connotations for me, as I can think of it being positive (as in making a sound or an idea which is so threatening to an established power structure that it must be labeled “ugly”) or negative (as in making a sound or idea which really interferes with peace and progress). Often our music, and perhaps our ideas, seem dissonant because they are interpreted in the context of a very repressive culture; if these ideas seem dissonant because we are hitting a note that seems wrong when combined with the 'sounds' of our repressive social structures, maybe our note is right and all of theirs are wrong. I have no idea if that answer has anything to do with the question!

Ben: Dissonance is totally subjective. Like any other musical idea it can be used well and used poorly. It shouldn't be neglected of course.