Amid the noise of daily life, listening is a vital skill that fosters deeper communication and connection. Conscious Listening™ in Music offers audiences practical tools for responding to uncertainty and disruption—sometimes by focusing inward, other times by releasing outward. Using musical models and collective listening, she guides listeners to integrate emotions, heighten awareness, embrace complexity, find meaning, and connect to the world, others, and themselves. 

These Conscious Listening tools allow the conscious listener to adjust, redirect, and sharpen their perception. The 4-step method also resonates with our 4 human faculties of Feeling, Thinking, Intuiting Meaning, and Sensing. 

Surveys consistently show that participants experience greater clarity, emotional resilience, and even spiritual connection. Hsu has developed a 4-step method that makes Conscious Listening™ personal, accessible, and applicable to multiple demographics and professions.

At its heart, Conscious Listening transforms concerts into practices—anchoring us in the present moment while connecting us to timeless ideas in music, relationships to others, and self-discovery.

Expanded Music Appreciation For Inquisitive Listeners 

• Mindfulness/Breathwork + Musical Complexities + Creative Associations

• with a 4-step Conscious Listening process,

• connecting with the composer's intention,
  the performer's interpretation,
  and others' listening awareness,

• to find your personal meaning in your music, work, and life.

With multiple points of entry,

Steinway Artist and former university faculty Hsing-ay Hsu will lead your listening to
connect deeply with the music,
find new ways to experience emotions,
and amplify your joy by sharing the moment with others.
Pieces range from Baroque to Modern, from solo to orchestral.

You will

Learn How to Listen and Engage Better through prompts, exercises, and discussion,
Practice asking questions,
Create multidimensional mental models,
Savor joy and beauty,
Make personal connections between music, others, and life,
Listen collectively & collaboratively with other Inquisitive listeners, Lifelong learners, Music teachers, Adult musicians....

MIND

• Notice and make sense of musical details with a 4-step listening grid, and alternate with emotionally listening.  

• Connect and integrate what you know with what you hear to find personal meaning.

• Liberate yourself from the same listening habits to listen as if for the first time, every time.

BODY

• Enhance health/wholeness by integrating emotions and biological response through Musical Breathwork™, Hsing-ay's unique breathing amplification of the musical phrasing.

• Improve physical health by improving awareness of emotional health

HEART 

• Create a collective multidimensional perspective.

• Develop the confidence to explore unfamiliar material/ideas.

• Explore the beauty and potential of life around us through musical ideas, modalities, and perspectives.

• Enhance your health/wellness by recognizing emotions and regulating breathing through music to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. 

APPLICATIONS

• Conscious listening skills are an essential part of every relationship. Consistent practice will improve your ability to learn faster, connect with others better, and dream bigger.

Steinway Artist Hsing-ay Hsu is focused on the art of "Conscious Listening" in concert music, through mind, breathwork, and emotions. She imagines a world in which we are connected to music, others, and ourselves. Created 15 years ago while she was on faculty at the University of Colorado, Ms. Hsu has given hundreds of workshops in partnership with the Yale China institute, the International Piano Keyboard Odyssiad Festival, Denver Friends of Chamber Music, piano teachers associations, Citi Bank, NY Adventure Club, and has created residencies with organizations including Klavierhaus NYC and Longmont Symphony Orchestra. She runs an online class for her Nutmeg Studio NYC, and in person class at the Kaufman Music Center NYC. 

Holding degrees from Juilliard and Yale, she folds in her performance experience as winner of numerous international and national prizes including the William Kappell International Piano Competition, US Presidential Scholar of the Arts, Gilmore Young Artist Award, and Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship. She has solo-ed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and as concerto soloist with dozens of orchestras. 

As an immigrant breaking down cultural and social barriers, and a performer who recovered from overuse injury, her unique evolution in building connections internally and externally fuels her passion as an educator and communicator. Her work is also influenced by dance studies with Schiff Dance Collective, Third Law, and Gallim; Thomas Hannah somatic studies; and Marc Brackett and Brené Brown's work on emotions. She is a Public Voices Op-Ed Fellow and Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, and a regular contributor to Psychology Today. 

Engaging with classical music is an ultimate multidimensional workout — when I am most conscious of being fully alive. We can train to improve listening skills and apply it beyond music to conscious living.

"I'm rusty with musical terms. Will I fit in?"
Every registered participant gets a  list of terms, a 4 step worksheet, and a starter mood meter.  Study this  at your own pace before the  Live Webinar.

"Will everyone laugh at me if I don't know  my stuff?"
We are life-learners here - people who  will applaud you for taking the risk to show up! Success is showing up and participating.

"What if I can't hear all the musical details that everyone else is hearing?"
The expectation is not to  hear everything I show you, but to hear just one more detail than you were able to before.  Please  enjoy the journey and  take it easy.

LEVEL: While the quantity of formal experience is of no consequence, regular concert music listening habits are strongly recommended so that you will be comfortable enough in exploring personal connections to the music, recognizing emotions/character, breathing to the music, and trying out new ideas. There will be only 3-4 people in each breakout room so you can get to share with and know your colleagues. If you would like to ease into the breakout room conversation, you are always welcome to say "I'll pass for now" or just wait in the main room. 

WHERE: A quiet room, reliable WIFI, and a device with decent speakers/headphones.  Please keep your video, as this is a group think. 

HOW: Register for your interactive Zoom link by emailing TheNutmegStudio@gmail.com. You can get a membership below right now and choose the amount you can pay. Want to try it first before becoming a member? Please tell me about yourself and I will invite you to your first meetup as my personal guest.

WHY IS THIS BENEFICIAL? Steinway Artist and former University of Colorado faculty member Hsing-ay Hsu developed her Conscious Listening™ method to guide audience listening inside each composer’s unique language across the genres of classical/concert music. We use mostly classical piano excerpts, but you are encouraged to adapt the 4-step process to a broader canon. This approach is the culmination of a lifetime of performing, teaching, and connecting mind, body, and heart. Whether the listening is in a concert hall, in the practice room, or on stage while performing, we can connect our emotions and physicality to our analytical minds to unlock your innate musicality.

• Small group cooperative fun in a safe space for slow, integrated listening to live demos.

• Embody the music with breath, knowledge, & emotions.

• Listen intentionally to the elements of the music, for the purpose of engaging with the composer’s musical language.  

• Follow a structured 4-step listening method that grows musical intuition.

• Practice aural skills with specific targets and discovering the character and emotions  inside each moment.

• Explore how your breath can interact with musical phrasing and other elements.  

• Acquire creative skills as you contribute ideas and make connections within the dynamic interplay of musical elements. 

• Join a community of inquisitive adults, both concert-goers and active performers, for motivated peer group learning.

• Discover new pieces and new musicians