Before salsa pianist Eddie Palmieri takes his first solo at a live concert, he will often stand up, and start clapping clave. Once the audience is clapping clave along with him, Palmieri will sit back down at the piano and proceed to take his solo. Palmieri's solos tend to be rhythmically complex, with avant-garde elements such as harmonic dissonance. By clapping clave along with Palmieri's solo, the audience is able to both "de-code" its rather esoteric musical "message", and participate in its creation at a fundamental level.