Rosenberg Academy

While the solos are an invaluable source of licks, Stochelo seems to have a staple vocabulary that shows up time and again in most songs. These are very effective musical phrases that just work. But every now and then I hear some ideas that he doesn't play that much. These seem to be tied to specific songs. One that comes to mind is the opening lick in the solo on "What Kind of Friend". I have listened to almost all the CDs of The Rosenberg Trio and have noticed this phenomenon. Stochelo has a "global" vocabulary for all songs(for lack of a better term), and a song-specific vocabulary. The latter is littered with exciting ideas that can really add to our playing.

I think it could be a great idea that for each month, or maybe just once every other month if that's more convenient, Stochelo can pick out one certain lick, phrase, intro, outro, chord-lick, or idea that he feels is important to know. Something that is good for a player to learn.

I think this can be a great way to supplement to each months song lesson with a lick or idea that can be worked on in depth and explored. It can be just whatever Stochelo feels is important to know.

I'm suggesting this because I learned so much from the past improvisation lessons here, but I know that soloing on a static chord is not a way that Stochelo prefers to work. The ideas themselves are invaluable musical gems and licks from the past improv lessons have become a permanent part of my playing for that reason.

Another idea could be to pick out a challenging chord progression in particular, like the half step major chord change in "Hungaria", or the D major to Db7 change in "Them There Eyes".
While the solos for these songs contain strong licks for these changes, supplementation is needed to be proficient in improv. Maybe it could be an idea to loop the a section of these songs and have Stochelo improvise over them, then afterwards pick out just the parts that go over the challening chords and just transcribe those?

I learned so much from the previous lessons in the improv course, it really has helped my playing a lot. The G-minor lesson for instance gave me a great foundation as I tried to work out ideas over "Douce Ambiance".

I think these are great suggestions. It's just very hard to get Stochelo to do this, because he really dislikes doing those little "assignments". I will try though at the next recording session.

I think I will go for one such lesson every four months. That will have more chance of succeeding also considering the fact that I have to write all of that stuff down ")

Yes, maybe once each recording session is more realistic. Either way, it doesn't have to be more than a couple bars every once in a while.

It could just be maybe four bars, because everything Stochelo plays is golden and if practiced and absorbed, just one smal phrase will enrich our playing more than we could imagine. Such is the case with the little nuggets in the improvisation lessons, and in the solos too.