The Conscious Listening™ Method
So what is Conscious Listening™?
It's a skillset for intentional listening to concert music.
At the core, it's a posture of open curiosity.
At its broadest reach, it is mindfulness in the moment, while honoring past experiences, and extending reality into multiple possibilities.
It is a practice. The more you do it, the more you're able to hear.
In-Person Events
Conscious Listening Piano Residency at Klavierhaus NYC.
Kaufman Center Lucy Moses School (near Lincoln Center)- monthly lunchtime class. Click to Register Now.
BCO Artist Residency, a Boulder Chamber Orchestra partnership in Colorado.
NY Adventure Club partnership coming soon.
Corporate Team Building Events
Music Teachers Meetings
With Hsing-ay's Conscious Listening™ class, listening to music has become a new adventure! I have learned how to focus on each element, hearing its role in the composition. I can much more deeply appreciate the composer’s creativity and I wonder, “What is he or she telling me?” I can bring more of myself into listening, feeling what resonates for me, what surprises, what fascinates. Our class has a great vibe. We’re invited to ask and share and compare experiences." - Dan Mausner, current student
Online Events
Monthly Zoom. Choose Your Membership Level. Click HERE for details.
Monthly Zoom. Choose Your Membership Level. Click HERE for details.
WHAT is included?
Online Café monthly, with Pre-Café music link if you like to listen ahead, and Post-Café summary afterwards. Online Holiday Social. Join me as often as you can!
Invitation to Members Events in Denver and New York City happen at various times. Newsletter.
WHEN
Online Café is 4th Saturdays, JANUARY - OCTOBER. 12NoonET/9amPT/10amMT/11amCT. 50 minute interactive presentation followed by 10 minute peer discussion. Drop in as often as you can. For your first time, please RSVP 24 hours in advance so I can send out a link one day beforehand. During NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, we will have an online Holiday Social to include all disciplines of art that members are creating. Membership is good for 12 months. Confirm your registration and date/time with theNutmegStudio@gmail.com.
Café Visitor Day-Pass: $10
*Suggested annual sponsorship is $250. Other options are $50, $100, $150, $1000.
*Your contribution makes possible the ongoing research, content preparation, coordination, and tech costs.
*Advance your creativity, social engagement, and multidimensional training, through my work to build a culture of listening.
*Basic membership is included for current studio clients.
Paypal.me/hsu2507
Venmo @HHpiano
Zello (Quickpay) to "Nutmeg Press" as First Name.
Email: thenutmegstudio@gmail.com.
Please confirm amount - non refundable.
For inquisitive listeners
Who want to listen to concert music better
Conscious Listening™ Sessions
uses guided real-time listening practice, with a 4-step process,
extending what you are actually hearing,
connecting with the composer's musical language and others
to find your personal meaning.
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.
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...
Open Level
If you are completely new to classical music, you may feel more prepared by attending a few concerts, or watching my YouTubes, to get familiar with the classical concert music sound world. Listeners are encouraged to help each other hear and understand ideas with simple language.
*We intentionally minimize complex terms. If there is something you don't understand, please ask in that moment so we can connect better.
*If you prefer to focus on technical skills like music theory, try a piano intensive on my Nutmeg Studio page.
"Engaging with classical music is an ultimate multidimensional workout — when I am most conscious of being fully alive."
How Conscious Listening™ benefits you:
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.
What People Are Saying - click HERE
"I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed YOU - and your course! How grateful I am that I have participated with you! You really are a delightful, engaging teacher!" - Lynn, counselor
"I love how you pull in different ideas, memories, stories, impressions, and layers of meaning."
-Loretta, a listener and a visual artist
"These are wonderful tools to offer your listeners, not only to enhance their experience of music but also to help them have an experience of themselves that is more vibrant and whole.
When you invite people to join you in taking time to breathe with mindfulness, you are helping them get back into their body, which also helps them be more receptive to experiencing music with more curiosity and wonder. And in turn, that helps them remember who they are in this deeper, more “whole” way.
When you invite people to imagine a story line or to get in touch with a feeling that a particular piece of music evokes for them, you are giving them an opportunity to dwell for just a little while in that part of themselves that is deeper than just the pragmatic, “thinking” part. " - Robin, presenter
Spending time in your [webinars] helps me to be centered, intentional, and elegant. - Lilly, international business woman
Fascinating and engaging: creative programming, generous sharing of skills /colors /philosophic communications, all done with your unique & graceful style, always growing from your experiences, visionary performances; wow!! - Tamara, concert pianist
"Thank you Hsing-ay. It's been marvelous! I feel refreshed after your lessons; I can't believe how much I've learned. I've been applying your teachings to my students and it is fascinating how even the very young are eager to pay attention to detail, and how fast they can learn from the very start to play 'meaningfully', no matter how simple the music is. I feel motivated to practice and work on new pieces. Thanks!" AN
“Thanks for a superb class! You made it very interesting by your upbeat personality and obvious piano excellence… "
"You helped rekindle my passion for teaching - thank you! Your approach is helping me know how to put difficult concepts into words. I also like how you ask questions and let people try to put their thoughts into words- it is one of the most effective ways of teaching."
"You have a very thoughtful approach that has something for all levels of experience."
"I’m sure that lots of teachers will be referring to your handout when they return to their studios after this conference."
Partners:
Online Café, Colorado Music Festival, Denver School of the Arts, International Odyssiad Festival, DAMTA music teachers intensive.
FAQ's
"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.
How do we grow musical intuition?
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
"Play is uncertainty with social engagement. It's a mobilization."
- Stephen W. Porges, professor of psychiatry and former clarinetist
