The fuzziness of 'expression' in relation to algorithmic music

All sorts of music expresses all sorts of ideas. Yet algorithmic music is often critiqued for its lack of expression. This raises questions about what makes any music 'expressive'. This in turn leads to addressing notions of expression itself. A logical approach reveals that the concept of expression in music discourse is very vague. This fuzziness arises from three sources. Firstly, the idiomatics of English is inherently confusing and builds specific expectations about music and expression in general. Secondly, the accepted ways of listening to Western art music identified by Becker [3], cause difficulties in identifying the substantial meaning of the word 'expression'. Thirdly, the conflation of composition and performance into the umbrella term 'music' such as the article 'Expression' in Groves Music Online [24] generates its own confusion. Revealing these sources of confusion, places the alleged deficiency in the expressiveness of algorithmic music into the logical deficiencies of music discourse, rather than locating it in algorithmic music.