Find Your Flow Intensive

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.

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. 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. Define your success by how much you integrate multiple dimensions, not by how much you ignore. 

Find the negative space, the stillness.
Find the emotional power to bring the audience with you into your magical soundscape.

If you want a guide to manage performing challenges so that it feels do-able, discover musical vistas you didn't imagine existed, and explore the creative nature you were endowed with, then meet me in New York!

For Conscious Listeners, you will see this is an extension of our work on how to lead with listening.

What This Course Will Do For You:

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.

A Varied Format and Community to Keep It Fresh

Asynchronous video on your own time:

Week 1)Choose repertoire 7-9 minutes through individual Video Evaluation (use Flip, YouTube, or Google Drive) 

Week 1)Score study analysis with feedback. Practicing performing on your own.

Week 1)Video lesson on logistics, mind-body connection, attire, tempo flexibility

Live Zoom

Week 2)Masterclass on Zoom - maximizing expression

Week 3)Performance Dress Rehearsal Run-Through and Feedback on Zoom - maximizing expression

In Person as part of the Conscious Listening™ Piano Festival

Klavierhaus NYC,  790 11th Ave (54th/55th St), NYC 10019 

Week 4)Develop your deep listening at the 4 day Conscious Listening™ Piano Festival
Week 4)Public Masterclass on Sunday, March 25, 2024, with recording playbacks

Week 4)Guaranteed 30minutes coached professional studio recording on Monday, March 25, 2024, with Hsing-ay and a recording engineer. 20minutes warmup time. Klavierhaus mics - Schoeps MK2H's or MK2's. Other mics possible.

 
Week 5)Production editing - visual, audio, lighting. Physical CD or uploading to YouTube.
Reflection and Processing check-in by email.

Better Ears: The Conscious Listening™ Festival ($150 festival pass included).
March 22-25, 2024 Conscious Listening™ Piano Festival NYC (Suggested arrival on March 21)
2023-2024 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 weeks of 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.

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

• $797. Inquire about Piano Teacher Scholarship.

• To audit the in-person events only, you can get the Festival Pass $150

• Conscious Listening™ Membership - invitation to VIP festival events and online Cafés, variable pricing

• Residency/Festival  Sponsorship - support my mission and campaign for people to listen better! $500

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/.