To close out this week’s series of master class notes (read Part 1 and Part 2), here are my notes from a talk given by David Sternbach, Research Director of the Center for Arts and Wellness at George Mason University. A former horn player himself, Mr. Sternbach visited a studio class during my time at UW-Madison. Mr. Sternbach has authored numerous articles covering a variety of issues facing musicians and other performing artists.

David Sternbach Master Class, The University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Excellence is a habit.
• Stage fright has three stages: 1) anticipatory 2) on-stage 3) afterwards
• To deal with stage fright (performance anxiety) it is necessary to restore your sense of engagement and reexamine your practice room conduct.
• Visualize what you want to accomplish.
• Spend at least some time in every practice session playing something you love.
• Establish a “minimum emotional standard”.
• Get the body warm before starting a practice session.
• Take more frequent breaks.
• Have zero tolerance for tension – it’s not worth learning a passage of music if tension is the result.
• Act, don’t react.
• Construct and practice affirmation phrases, and use them to replace the normal stress response. The affirmation has to be more powerful than a habitual negative statement.
• As in physical exercise, the cycle of challenge and recovery is important in the practice room. Practice should be regular and patterned.
• Create an environment in which you are happy.
• Play for your own delight at the beginning and end of a practice session.
• Physical fitness, especially cardiac fitness, is very important. Good cardiac health allows the body to recover faster from panic.
• Rehearse the feelings in the music, as well as the notes and rhythms. Train the mind to feel a certain way.
• We want alertness, not terror.
• Real Self vs. Performer Self: It is possible to train an emotional state, and replace negative thoughts/emotions with positive ones.
• Relaxation training: Practice quickly achieving a relaxed state by stopping suddenly in the middle of practicing and forcing yourself to relax. Abdominal breathing can help achieve a relaxed state.