Find Your Flow Intensive

Are you an adult pianist aiming to optimize your performance?
Lead with listening and let go of strain.

Independent Study or Group Zoom/Masterclass
Advanced Training

A mainstream approach to playing I often encounter is to focus and to strive for perfection by ignoring "distracting" sensations or internal thoughts.

I propose the opposite.

Performing and practicing are not about focusing on controlling behavior and suppressing anxiety. It's about MINDFULNESS, the power to be fully connected all around us. 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. For Conscious Listening participants, this is an extension of our work on how to lead with listening.

How do you measure whether your performance was successful? That MINDSET 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 ever evolving present moment.

In this course, you will

Define your success by how well you listen to multiple dimensions.
Strategize an optimal growth mindset.
Link performance flow with practice habits.
Use a creative tool chest to trouble shoot flow issues.

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 and practicing.

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, and

6)reviewing the videos/ the process 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

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 including live masterclass and recording session: $797. Conscious Listening™ Membership included. Inquire about Piano Teacher Scholarship.
Auditors for Festival: $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/.