Resounding relations: Habits of improvisation in Yolŋu song and contemporary Australian jazz

Habit has primarily been considered along seemingly divergent trajectories, either as a mechanism that limits creativity or as a transition of imagination into embodied activity (Grosz 2013). An interplay of these two aspects is clearly seen in music improvisation, in which performances unfold through well-honed patterns of technique and processes of listening and learning. Yet while the development of good habits is considered essential to performance within distinct cultural traditions or stylistic genres, little attention has been devoted to identifying the types of habits needed for engagement in cross-cultural performance settings. This paper broadens the scope of habits typically explored within jazz studies and music pedagogy, conceptualising habit in a way that resonates across contemporary Australian jazz and Yolŋu manikay (public ceremonial song) from Australia’s Northern Territory. In this, we emphasize the relational dimensions of habit as they form a foundation for community formation through performance, involving processes of imitation and evocation, and learning through participation. Through this heuristic braiding of habits in jazz and manikay, we argue that habits of musical performance both locate performers within distinct traditions while allowing freedom to innovate. This dynamic allows for the elevation of these traditions within new contexts and relationships.