non-idiomatic improvisation

This paper develops a philosophical and aesthetic reading of non-idiomatic improvisation by bringing its performance practices into dialogue with Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concepts of the rhizome, becoming, deterritorialisation, and the body without organs. Alongside thisconceptual discussion, it draws on documentation of a workshop led by Tristan Honsinger in The Hague, examining exercises and reflections concerning silence, temporality, gesture, the suspension of habitual reactions, and collective interaction. These materials frame improvisation not simply as the absence of a fixed idiom, but as a situated practice in which musical relations emerge through listening, experimentation, and the reconfiguration of established habits. The contribution also considers the critical and political implications of improvisation, particularly its potential to challenge conventions of musical organisation, virtuosity, performance, and listening. Its contribution lies in connecting philosophical interpretation with documented practice to propose non-idiomatic improvisation as an open-ended aesthetic process and a mode of critical musical inquiry.