Rosenberg Academy is live!

Hemert

Dear musicians,

We are live and accepting members:

http://www.rosenbergacademy.com

Best Wishes,
Christiaan van Hemert

weechimpy

HI
I looked at the site and it looks good, obviously no comment about the teacher but this is much more expensive than other GJ online courses. ROmanes is around 20euro per month on imusic, lolo meier and fapy lafertin £40 for three month on http://www.gypsyjazzacademy.com/
It would be nice to know what is inside the course, a detailled list of what is available would help me and probably other beginner decide if this is the right place to go.

Many thanks

timemaker27

First of all, it's fantastic that Stochelo shares with us his playing, philosophy, tips etc.

Anyway, I would say, it is too expensive - £55 for a 3month subscription is a lot of money
The courses could cover the subjects much better.

4 courses only:
- minor swing (solo + TAB)
- A blues (solo + TAB)
- rhythm course (very basic stuff - I am really disappointed with this one)
- technique course (good for the beginners, I've been studying Stochelo's picking technique for a while so, I've just found what I've already known.)

To sum up, great stuff (especialy for the beginners or people not familiar with Stochelo's picking technique), but it's not enough for paying £55.
Forum doesn't work.
If a new lesson is added once a month, I quit after 3 months.

Cheers

weechimpy

Thanks for feedback
It is a bit disapointing I was looking forward to this.

Hemert

Actually,

- The tabs for the solos are so detailed that they are not comparable to tabs anywhere else. For every note Stochelo's fingering and pick direction is notated! Also, every lick and phrase in the solo is demonstrated by Stochelo in slow tempos.

- Forum will go live monday or tuesday (just some technical issues)

- It is true that right now only four courses are available, but the technique exercises are something that every gypsy jazz guitar player could sink his/her teeth in. If you are able to do them at the same tempo and with the same tone Stochelo does them you do not need lessons. For people who want more lessons I suggest: wait 6 months because many more will be available by then!

Regards,
Christiaan

effinedna

In my view this website - i.e. the Rosenberg Academy - is rubbish.

It has been inadequately prepared and the charges vastly outweigh the material available. As has been noted, a number of the "tabs" have no content attached to them, and the videos - which are of poor quality - do not play properly. In spite of what Christiaan van Hemert claims there is nothing new on the site unless you are completely new to gypsy jazz guitar, and/or want to study the specific intricacies of Stochelo's playing technique. No one doubts Stochelo's genius, but the 'exercises' are fairly standard fare, and there can't be too many guitarists who simply want to copy what he plays.

Christiaan van Hemert (in the previous post) is now advising people who want more content to wait six months. I'd agree with that - I wish he'd given this advice before I signed up for a year. I think that he should also allow potential customers the opportunity to look at the site before enrolling.

timemaker27

It's good to know I am not the only one disappointed in the quantity of lessons in the RA.

Forum still doesnt work, I d like to read what the other members think as according to Christiaan's email to me "We have many, many subscribers mailing us with a lot (and I mean A LOT) of enthusiasm." As I emailed him back I would love to become one of them but at this stage I can't.
So far, I am looking forward to meeting all of them on the forum (when it works)

I d like to try another Academy "Gypsy Jazz Academy" but if it is run in the same way, it is not worth then.

@effinedna
"I think that he should also allow potential customers the opportunity to look at the site before enrolling." - Thats right!

Are u a member of GJA, if yes, could u share your opinion.


all the best
Timemaker27

MaxwellGarces

a good LA session guitar player will sometimes charge $120.00 an hour for a lesson. i think you guys are getting a little bit wimpy over price. it is what it is. time went into content development, web design, stochelo's time, and whoever else (probably DC) that charted out the tabs and helped in the process. costs are incurred and the endeavor has to be profitable over costs. if you dont like it, dont pay. if you feel the lessons are remedial for your skill level, then good for you and the "school" may not be geared towards you as a player.

Archtop Eddy

As a member of both the Gypsy Jazz Academy and the Rosenberg Academy, I think we need to give the RA a chance to get its footing. It's only about a week old. Hopefully, once the forum is up and running it will provide a more inclusive environment for students to share information with one another and provide comments and ideas to the academy "staff".

For those interested in finding out more about the Gypsy Jazz Academy, I suggest going back to the Welcome section and reading the thread about the GJA. I left my observations there on Feb. 3.

In either case, these on-line academies are only as good as what you're willing to put into them (or take away from them, whichever it may be). To learn from Fapy, Lollo, Stochelo and a host of excellent players worldwide is a great opportunity indeed! Already, the RA has provided me with great inputs about basic technique issues. A lot of these technical points are things I already knew, some are things I thought I knew. What the academies do is provide me with direct input and feedback, thus clearing up the cobwebs in my thinking (the old, "hmm, am I doing this right or not?").

Are they worth the money? That is something you will have to answer for yourself. They aren't cheap that's for sure, but value can't always be measured in dollars alone.

The RA is new and needs time to develop. As for the GJA, which is about four months old, I can say the following about my experience: I've submitted four videos for review at GJA and each has received direct responses from Lollo and/or Fapy -- and usually within two days. I've chatted with Lollo online, GJA founder Dave Rattray has implemented numerous suggestions I've made and often within minutes of my suggesting them, and both Lollo and Fapy have directly addressed questions I've had with their video inputs. I am not the only one. I've watched as other students have asked questions and seen timely responses via script or video from Lollo. These responses are educational for everyone involved. Additionally, Dave adds a new video, lesson, transcript, or mp3 file on a a consistent basis -- usually several a week.

I have every belief that the RA will also mature in the coming months. I believe it will take a different approach than GJA and as a result the academies will compliment one another. On another note, there is also Robin Nolan's Gypsy Jazz Fast Track Courses which I found to be fun and immediately fulfilling. There are so many choices out there. It's a golden time for learning Gypsy Jazz. And for someone like me in Colorado, they are a lot cheaper than flying to Europe or even to the coasts to take private lessons.

AE

effinedna

Sorry to harp on, but the RA (I can't comment on the GJA, and have been scared off other sites by the poor quality of the RA) is rubbish and MaxwellGarces' defence of the site is ridiculous.

The site is not ready. The material is of poor quality, and sparse. Imagine paying $120 dollars for a lesson with "a good LA session player" only to find that s/he was ill-prepared and had at best a limited repertoire available for you to learn. (Silly analogy, I know, but it's not mine.)

MaxwellGarces wrote "time went into content development, web design, stochelo's time, and whoever else (probably DC) that charted out the tabs and helped in the process..." Yes, but not enough time. It's not the cost of the site that I'm bemoaning but the lack of value for money. I don't mind paying the high price for, say, a Rolls Royce, but I then don't expect to get Trabant.

MaxwellGarces wrote "if you dont like it, dont pay" - but the point is that you don't know what it's like until you have paid, and it is being falsely over-marketed. I was, after all, prepared to pay for year's tuition. However, there is not much on the site and it doesn't work properly.

Archtop Eddy wrote "I think we need to give the RA a chance to get its footing. It's only about a week old." Why? The designers kept delaying the opening of the site. Obviously it has proven to be beyond their capabilities. They should not have opened the site until it was ready. Why should I pay for videos that won't play properly. Do we allow for "teething troubles" with our $120 dollar session musician or Rolls Royce?

Archtop Eddy wrote "these on-line academies are only as good as what you're willing to put into them (or take away from them, whichever it may be)." Sorry but non comprende. Of course, everyone needs to practise etc. but there has to be some sense of inherent quality within the design and content of the site - not simply the user. Note - Rolls Royce and Trabant. Trabants were cheap and nasty and for some people were all that was available. Groovy and spiffing, if that's the case. But don't market them as Rolls Royces.

The RA is rubbish. No, I lie. It's not that good.

MaxwellGarces

" I don't mind paying the high price for, say, a Rolls Royce, but I then don't expect to get Trabant."

im thinking of writing a new song called "Trabant Bolero"