Mary Halvorson Breaks Down Free Improvisation

One of music's most unique and interesting voices, and a star student of the legendary Anthony Braxton, guitarist Mary Halvorson discusses how she reconciled her work with standards and with free improvisation in her own music.
Learn more at academy.jalc.org
Mary Halvorson - Guitar
Eric Suquet - Director
Bill Thomas - Director of Photography
Aaron Chandler - Sound Engineer
Rich Emery - Production Assistant
Seton Hawkins - Producer
Recorded March 6, 2014

[@waysilentbob6976]

2:28 "You need to be okay with failing". Yep, got that nailed. Just need to get good now! I heard Mary for the first time about 30 minutes ago (via an article on Robert Wyatt), and yeah, feeling it...

[@joshuacanate]

what was the name of the article??

[@EliBleu]

She is following a "sense" for the music. What she hears and feels rather than what is "traditional" .. Im a guitarist and Holdsworth showed me, & the world, years ago that music doesn't have to be strictly structured.. I love it

[@FatPeaceman]

+Eli A Holdsworth is great

[@michaelciccia2760]

Eli Bleu "I'm a guitarist"

[@pwhqngl0evzeg7z37]

It's funny that you mentioned Allan, since I kinda heard him when Mary played - I suppose it's that "angular chord melody" sound.

[@danielroberts395]

Wow. This awesome resource has been here for 8 years with this genius and I’ve only just discovered it. I feel simultaneously blessed for stumbling on this and like a schmuck for missing it for so long!

[@3340steve]

I really like her attitude about free improvising. You have to be OK about failing.

[@CreamFreshCream]

I'm an introvert and I don't care much about other people, but Mary is a person I'd really like to meet and talk to! She seems to be so amazing and magical...

[@coulton-davisjazz2872]

Thanks for doing this!

[@Zeal808]

Vibrato pedal...love her. She simply plays

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

love your work!!

[@mathuwhycough6591]

She's so great

[@felixjordanguitar]

she is a real joy to hear

[@JakobPek]

nice! Thank you!

[@gregskaff]

An interesting idea and it works. I like it!

[@armsfullofronan]

mary is fantastic!

[@floydmacintire]

i just watched a video that boast's top 10 female guitarist of all time.you werent on there so i complained!....

[@JazzAcademy]

+ecnaurps Nicely done! Mary is an extraordinary artist

[@alejofar]

Thanks!

[@OldCroghanMan]

What a cool guitar

[@mark5126]

It's expensive too!

[@OldCroghanMan]

+Mark Lucio I believe it. For humble, ham-fisted plunkers like myself it is only to be admired from far, far away . . .

[@geecen]

+OldCroghanMan It's not that much actually. A lot less than a Gibson! www.thomann.de/gb/guild_a_150_savoy_blonde.htm

[@geecen]

+geecen The one I linked is a modern remake based on the x150 model. The one Mary uses is a 70s Artist Award which is in another league.

[@TonyfromBham]

'Excellent lesson and excellent playing.

[@malachia8590]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂, no

[@ottodude555]

Those glasses and the tailpiece on that guitar are both super cute.

[@andressolo9722]

Good!

[@codafiles]

shes so cool :)

[@veryanweston185]

This is a way I could work with as an improvising musician, but not necessarily for every improvising musician.

[@libraryofcorn]

thanks

[@SanMarvinNinguemSantana]

you haves a nice hand in MPB there, congrats!

[@jroc2201]

It feels like a mirror facing a mirror, a reflection of a reflection

[@spareroomdemos2006]

Jeff Beck comes to mind as far as a mish mosh. He follows his heart. And he’s a virtuoso

[@Xelanderthomas]

Wow, that was improvised?

[@anguspollerd442]

how was she doing her vibrato?

[@BixLives32]

How did you get that vibrato sound?!! Look ma, no hands...

[@alanlynch2267]

Comments: At 2:10, you mention hearing someone 'go to a different chord'. Even before they make the change, sometimes, it's often like you can feel them going there. It's a little tricky because sometimes their 'there' isn't what you thought they were headed to, which can lead to... 2:15 "It doesn't always sound good". I've found that sometimes the cacophony can work for you in that when some structure finally does take shape, it's that much better, somehow, particularly in situations where improvisation is expected by the listener.Something about chaos becoming more cohesive is also satisfying. Of course you're known to avant garde, (don't deny it, you wear it well), that you, personally, could likely get away with saying that even the worst parts are "just over your head, you don't GET IT, man!". At 2:55 I see your right hand quavering, like it's missing a Bigsby, but I also see and hear that you're using that as more of a (rather subtle) tremolo effect rather than vibrato. You mentioned being a trained jazzbo at the start of this video, so you've likely had experience with the Bigsby. I wonder why you discarded it. Is the trapeze bridge that much better? Me? I'm lost without a Bigsby, even if I rarely use it. My favorite way is to hold the trem arm with only my pinky and ring fingers, and only quaver the rest of my hand. A subtle bit of color. I see you rest the instrument on your right leg. I find it a different experience resting mine on my right leg after seeing Segovia do it that way on 60 Minutes. He said it was best to have the body of the instrument "as close to the heart as possible". Only problem is, it looks and feels a bit haughty. I heard you on NPR today, (Nov 27, 2016). Blew my mind with the solo guitar excerpt they played. I, myself, have been 'troubled' with the guitar over the past year or so. I've fumbled my way though composing on my Yamaha MO8 to some degree of success, learning a bit of piano-playing along the accidental way. The reason for that was to have something to play along with on electric guitar, but by the time I could make a usable backing track, the muse wasn't interested in guitar, anymore. Bummer. I appreciate you making the guitar sound interesting for me, again. I love your weird music! I dare you to work with Brian Eno! Pretty please! Love, Alan

[@valteiraraujodossantos6713]

Muito bom o video dela I liked.

[@kilgoretrout321]

About the 'ghost' quaver of her right hand...I think that many guitarists use their strum hand to conduct the pulse and subdivisions, especially when their feet (which most non-musicians use to keep time) are taken up by pedals as hers are. From what I remember about how our limbs work, we can 'couple' movements together so that they happen in unison, and she may have developed her technique around that in order to really nail the tremelo sound on the subdivisions. Come to think of it, that is the usual course of things (think patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time) and musicians must develop the ability to have each limb and finger do different things.

[@danielhornbeck6588]

Given her approach/description, is it safe to say that learning traditional jazz is a prerequisite for free improv? Would really love to hear anyone's feedback.

[@mattpropp9192]

If you want to use jazz techniques and motifs when you improvise then, yes- almost definitely.

[@JannisSicker]

I think there are countless ways to approach free improvisation. Your ears can be trained in many different ways. There are baroque improvisation players. Also a lot of interesting stuff coming from the experimental punk/indie/garage music scene (check out the self-titled album by "Women"). Not to mention all the highly intricate ways of improvising in different cultures across the world (India, Africa) and all the things that are connected to the experimental electronic scene... Aphex Twin and the likes

[@motokohondamusic]

To free improv, learning traditional jazz is not at all required. When I started free improv, I had only experience as a classical pianist and absolutely no experience playing jazz. I did study jazz afterwards because I wanted to expand my vocabulary, but often people appreciated that my free improv sounded more unique as it was NOT based on jazz chords or licks which happens a lot since more jazz players are comfortable doing free improv. The trick is to find your own strength as a player and use that to start building free improv language of your own. Are you good with jazz improv? Then build from there like Mary here does. Are you a classical player ? Then you have a lot of techniques and especially tonal control, then focus on that first instead of trying to improv like jazz players. You can create your own scale (instead of trying to improv from Dorian scale etc) and stick with that etc., so you don't necessary need to match existing chords if you can't tell other people's chord changes etc. You also can focus more on dynamic controls and textures if you don't feel comfortable playing notes or chords. Listen a lot of free-improv players and get the ears open up, especially to the idea of more complex harmonies, crushed chords, a-tonal esthetics, textures and playing in free time instead of with time signatures ♥

[@danielhornbeck6588]

@@motokohondamusic extraordinary and generous reply, thank you!

[@rinkmeifucan]

How is she doing that vibrato? It sounds like a bigsby but there isn't one

[@clancykobane9102]

+rinkmeifucan effects pedal.

[@hamsamahendranathan6886]

It's just a volume pedal being rocked repeatedly, sort of a manual tremolo.

[@alexdelarge395]

What is that technique called when she shakes her hand after she plays a chord (for example at 2:49)? I don't see a whammy bar

[@TomMilleyMusic]

Watch her foot, I think she's using a volume pedal for swells.

[@GellertSzaboMusic]

hey, anybody any idea how she does those whammy/volume-swells? i dont see a whammy bar, she isnt noddeling with the volume knob and i dont think she uses a pedal...

[@JazzAcademy]

She had a variety of effects pedals that she was using, actually!

[@Semitotal]

Gellert S It's actually a delay pedal, she's changing the time of the delay with an expression pedal to get those little pitch shifts (at least that's how she does it live/on the albums. I think here she's only using a volume pedal).

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

+Gellert S Mary uses a Digitech Whammy pedal, set to drop pitch when you press the pedal down, so it's very similar to using a whammy bar, you just do it with your foot.

[@Mortison77577]

What's the difference between "free improv" and "free jazz"?

[@JazzAcademy]

Ester Samuels From Mary: ""Free improv" and "free jazz" are definitely similar/ related terms, and I find both hard to define. I think the definition would vary, depending on who you ask. I try to avoid labels when possible since they tend to box music in; but at the same time, it is hard to avoid labeling entirely. I would say "free jazz" might indicate a stylistic tradition coming out of jazz, often with looser time and form structures, whereas "free improv" might incorporate influences from other musical traditions (western classical etc), and blend them together in a freely structured / non-composed context. My teacher Joe Morris uses the term "free music" as more of an all-encompassing term. If you want to read more on the subject, his book, The Properties of Free Music, is excellent. Hope this helps."

[@artsandclouds]

+Jazz at Lincoln Center's JAZZ ACADEMY "The Properties of Free Music" Is an amazing book and a beautiful and fulfilling experience for whoever wants to go deeper into that kind of music.

[@Tootufftocry]

I never seen your play music without a sheet in front of her

[@alexandrequeiros142]

Um pouco ih

[@rinahall]

giant guitar

[@BixLives32]

OR, better yet, look ma, at those hands!!!

[@quimcastilla]

What happens? The guitar is really huge or Mary is very very little? Or... both things?

[@genec8393]

I'm a little ill at seeing all the pick scratches on an Artist. I had an ebony one (had several blondes at the time). They are beautiful instruments.

[@tomburke1687]

Where is the JAZZ?? Expected nice lines with a Be-Bop flavor.

[@stevekim4162]

I just dont get jazx

[@MrLeaff]

Steve L the more you listen... the more you get man

[@AlexDainese]

Not even English.

[@NOWtheband]

ok

It's not about getting, it's about letting go... about going with the flow

[@geolectric_universe]

imagine downvoting mary halvorson, couldn't be me

[@nitroxsam66]

Mary is too big for her guitar.

[@user-lh3si8sl8o]

You cannot teach improvisation. Its a contradiction in itself. You just impovise.