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Gerard Schwarz is the former principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic, former music director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the current conductor of the All-Star Orchestra and the music director of the Eastern Music Festival.

WORST PERFORMANCE MOMENT:

Was careless by spending too much time in the sun before a performance with the NY Phil. Had to play through much pain and did not perform his best.

CONDUCTOR'S ADVICE:

Ignore mistakes if and when they happen. It's impossible to make music when a player is worried about getting stink eye from the conductor after missing a note.

HOW JERRY STAYS "IN THE ZONE":

"I just tell myself this is easy." Your entire career doesn't ultimately come down to four lousy notes, although it may feel that way in the moment.

THE HOT SEAT

It's 5 minutes before a performance. What are you doing? As a conductor, everyone is different. I go through my scores, even if I’ve done it a hundred times. But if you were backstage with me, you’d think I was the most relaxed person in the world. I’m joking with the stage crew, pacing a bit. I’d like to get the show on the road. I don’t like waiting through speeches on the stage. But as soon as I take that first step on the stage, I am in that piece, whatever it is. So much so that when I have to play something like the Star Spangled Banner, the librarian would have to put a note on the stand that says “Star Spangled Banner.” Because when I step onto the stage, I’m so focused on what I’m going to conduct, I forget. The SSB is kind of an interruption in my concentration.The 5 minutes before doesn’t affect me much, but the moment I step onto the stage, I’m in another world.

What’s the best performance-related advice you've ever received? I think the best advice was the one about convincing yourself you can do it and do it well. Another piece of advice I give is to put the music first. If you do that, life will be easier for you as a performer. If you focus on technical issues, or what people are thinking, it will be a deterrent. When my kids were growing up, I would tell them, “Think about the music.” It’s the key to success. The other key is preparation.

Can you share one tip for our listeners to help deal with stage fright? I’ve never had stage fright, so I’m not the best person to give advice. But the only times I’ve ever been nervous is when I wasn’t as prepared as I should be. It’s happened very rarely because I’m such a meticulous worker, but it has happened. And if you’re not as thoroughly prepared as you should be, you will have stage firght. No question. So the better prepared you are, the better you’ll do.When you watch my All-Star shows, I have an hour worth of information to talk about a piece for a 5-minute presentation. I’m over prepared. Then I can think about what’s the most important thing I want to say.I remember Phil Farkas would practice all the solos all the time. It would drive me crazy. But his attitude was the more times I get it perfectly, the more confident I will feel. And it worked for him. He was one of the most accurate horn players ever.

Imagine you’re on stage. It’s the end of the performance and the audience is on its feet, applauding. They don’t want any more and they don’t want any less. Everything is perfect. What have you just done? Give details: Venue, repertoire, band mates, etc. I used to have an expression in Seattle, when I would come off the stage after a concert I thought had gone extraordinarily well. I would say to the head stage manager, “And that’s how that goes.” For me, the times I feel best is not when the audience is most effusive, even though I do love that. But when I feel like we have made a great performance. But if the audience loves it, even if it hasn’t gone as well as I would have liked,