About
Much of my teaching principles are based on outlining the advantageous mental and physical practice techniques revealed through research in Sports Psychology. These methods help my students strategically overcome the numerous psychological obstacles in order to develop a consistently high level of performance.
I share with students my Sports Psychology research that focuses on common triggers for performance anxiety and stage fright. By assessing the students’ performances, I design an applicable daily practice plan which gears to establish better control over the physical and psychological symptoms known to negatively impact performance. Applying these principles also helps in the development of increased control of muscular and mental functions, accuracy, precision, discipline, mental awareness and overall coordination. By incorporating knowledge of Sports Psychology in my lessons, I hope to educate about the existing relationship between mental process and physical execution and the impact one has on the other.
For professional athletes and musicians, performing under pressure is an inescapable element of their careers. Given the current levels of performance excellence and the consequent fierceness of competition, consistency in performance quality is indispensable in attaining the degree of professionalism. This implied link between musical and athletic disciplines is a logical one. Similarly to athletes, musicians must achieve high levels of technical skill, efficient movement patterns, acute focus, composure and extreme concentration, all while maintaining a consistently high level of performance.
Musicians ‘play’ music as athletes ‘play’ sports. Therefore, like sports, a musical performance is a physical activity with extreme demands on technical facility, training ethics, discipline, deliberate practice, structure, dedication, determination, motivation and inspiration. Like sports, it is a form of self-expression, performed in front of an audience and demanding astounding mastery of the human mind and body. Both performance practices provide the performer with opportunities for excellence, though the journey may bring forth intense pressures, challenges, anxieties, fears and psychological phobias. Adapting the methods and principles developed by research in sports psychology, affords tremendous advantage in a musician’s constant desire to elevate, not only the quality, but also the consistency of quality in their performance.
I plan to continue incorporating established and developing sports psychology principles into my teaching of orchestral, chamber and solo repertoire, and to emphasize their general psychological benefits and contribution to human enrichment.
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Besidone
Chaya L.
Vincent G.
Efstathia E.
Hailey
Kristin B.
Frequently asked questions
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
University of California, Santa Barbara Doctor of Musical Arts CA 2012
Activities: Pupil of Yuval Yaron
Young Artists String Quartet: tutelage of Yuval Yaron
Ensemble of Contemporary Music
Concerto Competition winner 2009, 2011
Concertmaster of Symphony Orchestra
Publication: The Study of Success in Music: Applying Methods Developed
by Sports Psychology towards Achieving Peak Performance.
Manhattan School of Music Master of Music NY 2008
Activities: Pupil of Grigory Kalinovsky
String Quartet, Piano Trio: tutelage of
Robert Man, & American String Quartet
Concertmaster of Baroque Aria
Title Positions in Chamber and Symphony Orchestra
California State University, Long Beach Bachelor of Music CA 2005
Activities: Pupil of Linda Rose
Piano Quintet
Symphony Concertmaster
Concerto Competition winner
Scholarship Competition winner
What types of students have you worked with?
By incorporating my Sport Psychology studies in lessons, Dimitry’s methods successfully help develop and increase control of muscular and mental functions, accuracy, precision, discipline, mental awareness and overall coordination in violin performance. As feedback to his approach, my students win title positions in the Colburn Chamber and Los Angeles Youth Orchestras, Idyllwild Music
Festival, Interlochen Music Festival, Palisades High School Symphony, Grand Prizes in the International Music Competition of Young Performers ‘Colibri’, Concerto Competitions by the Committee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Idyllwild School Auditions. His students also have had the privilege in performing at the Disney Hall and participate in orchestral tours in Prague, Vienna and Italy.