Habits of Unexpectedness. Expressiveness in Musical Improvisation (and Beyond)

The expressive nature of musical improvisation is dissected, navigating between two predominant theses: the Transparency Thesis (1) which proposes that expressiveness in improvisation transparently reflects the musician’s subjective affectivity, and the Objective-Generic Expressiveness Thesis (2) asserting that it hinges only on the music practice’s objective components. This article challenges both theses, arguing against (1) by emphasizing that musical expressivity transcends a mere natural outburst, and counteracting (2) by highlighting that it is not merely an enactment of objective expressive topoi. Introducing a novel perspective through the conceptual pair of (social) Habitus and (individual) habit, a third stance is defended: the specific expressiveness in improvised music is significantly impacted by its improvisational quality, whereby the expressiveness emerges from the manipulation and transformation of an expressive Habitus within the musical performance's contingent situation.