Find Your Flow Intensive
Are you an adult pianist aiming to optimize your performance?
Be fully present by leading with listening and letting go of excessive effort.
Independent Study or Group Zoom/Masterclass
A mainstream approach to performing I often encounter is to focus and to strive for perfection by ignoring "distracting" sensations or internal thoughts.
I propose the opposite.
Performing is not about controlling behavior and suppressing anxiety. It's about the power to be fully present, savoring connections all around us. I believe it is necessary to use both the lens of internal drive AND the lens to zoom outwards to integrate all that is happening in the present moment.
How do you measure whether your performance was successful? That question will determine how you practice, how you connect with the composer's score and with your audience, and how you connect to the music in the present moment.
Define your success by how well you listen and integrate multiple dimensions.
How do you prepare well? How do you find the emotional power to bring the audience with you into your magical soundscape.
Strategize an optimal mindet.
Commit to best practice habits.
Apply a tool chest to trouble shoot problems.
For Conscious Listeners, this is an extension of our work on how to lead with listening.
Play with the ever changing present moment!
What This Course Will Do For You
Get all the tools you need
to tackle the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of performing.
Practice how to use these tools with fluency
in performance situations.
Practice listening to all sensations in order to notice the most essential one at that moment.
Practice letting go in order to respond.
Practice breathing in the energy of the room in order to find your internal space.
Real-Time Processing
We will be learning to adapt to real time sensations by
integrating and going deeper and wider in our process,
with a recording as both an observation tool and an end product.
Big Picture Principles
Classes will cover
1)analysis for performance,
2)mind-body connection,
3)maximizing expression,
4)fine-tuning the interpretation and an optional verbal introduction,
5)deciding on the production details - attire and camera angles, and
6)reviewing the videos together.
Community
Amplify your motivation with customized guidance and camaraderie with other adult pianists.
Schedule
A Varied Format to Keep It Fresh
2/24 Watch video and Record on your own
3/2, 10am ET Zoom
3/9 & 3/16 11am-12pm ET Zoom
3/24 1-4pm Klavierhaus masterclass livestreamed
3/25 11-2pm Recording session
DETAILS:
Asynchronous video on your own time
Week 1)Starting February 24: Read Email and Watch Video
Week 1)Choose repertoire c. 7 minutes and record your own performance Video Evaluation (use YouTube, Google Drive, or DropBox)
Week 1)Score study analysis
Live Zoom
Week 2)SAT March 2, Masterclass Zoom on Physical, Mental, and Emotional Flow STRATEGY. We'll also work on mind-body connection, flexibility, and listening skills.
Week 3)SAT March 9, Masterclass on Zoom - maximizing expression with harder targeted EXERCISES
Week 4)SAT March 16, Performance Dress Rehearsal Zoom and filling up your TOOL CHEST
In Person at Klavierhaus NYC, 790 11th Ave (54th/55th St), NYC 10019
Week 5)Develop your deep listening at the 4 day Conscious Listening™ Piano Festival March 22-25
Week 5)SUN, March 24, Public Masterclass - playbacks
Week 5)MON, March 25, 30minutes coached professional studio recording with Hsing-ay and a recording engineer. 20minutes warmup time.
+ Production editing - visual, audio, lighting. Physical CD or uploading to YouTube.
Reflection and Processing check-in by email.
Listening Skills: The Conscious Listening™ Festival ($150 festival pass included).
March 22-25, 2024 Conscious Listening™ Piano Festival NYC (Suggested arrival on March 21)
Hsing-ay Hsu Artist Residency & Festival at Klavierhaus
Interdisciplinary Performances, Piano Intensive for Lifelong Learners, Conscious Listening™ Café In -Person, Chamber Music Masterclass, Piano Restoration Demo with Sujatri Riesinger
Register Now!
5 group classes including festival pass and professional recording
6 recording spots including a final video/audio recording product, with a professional recording engineer, on a Steinway Hamburg concert grand played by Benjamin Britten and Andras Schiff.
*Memorization is optional.
1)Fill out the form - click blue button below.
2)Email a one-minute video or link of your playing to thenutmegstudio@gmail.com.
3)Short Zoom interview required for new applicants.
Cost
Participants: $797. Conscious Listening™ Membership included. Inquire about Piano Teacher Scholarship.
Auditors: $150 Residency Pass online and/or in person. Livestream Pass included.
PAYMENT THROUGH ZELLE (QUICKPAY) IS PREFERRED.
"Nutmeg Press" as First Name. Email is thenutmegstudio@gmail.com. Please confirm amount - non refundable.
Paypal - paypal.me/hsu2507
Plan your travel early before prices go up! Look for flights to arrive Thursday, March 21, 2023, at the latest by noon on Friday, March 22, 2023, La Guardia (LGA) airport. Accommodations book up fast (airbnb and hotels near Hell's Kitchen or Lincoln Square neighborhood). Optional social outings for Conscious Listening Members (Met Opera Turandot, Met Museum).
You can reserve extra practice time on grand pianos (several Steinways) at the Kaufman Center on 67th between Amsterdam and Broadway for only $20/hr. Reserve in advance. https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/kc/rental-spaces/rehearsals/.