Professional Performance Mentoring
'building mental strength'
Whether you experience severe performance anxiety, or wish to improve your ability to deliver under pressure, Professional Performance Mentoring can help you address the areas that are holding you back from achieving your full potential as a performer.
Walking out on stage and performing under pressure can be a daunting task. The feeling of being judged, worry of ‘failure’, being able to deliver what you know you are capable of in your living room and all the ‘what ifs’ can prevent you from delivering your best performance. Your ability to perform under pressure has very little to do with your technical ability; great performers such as Chopin and Horowitz had debilitating performance nerves. With the right support and guidance it is possible to learn to deal with such issues and focus on the true identity of yourself as a performer.
Testimonals
''I used to get so nervous when I performed, it's like all my preparation and practice went out the window when I got on stage - now I am focused and deliver what I know I am capable of...it's all down to my mental preparation and I feel more in control''
Professional violinst
Testimonials
'I feel like performance nerves were ruining my enjoyment of music making, so I decided to take control of things and think about the psychological aspect of performing - very glad I did!''
Student cellist
Testimonials
''I wanted to be able to deliver my best when performing, leave it less to chance and be performing at the highest level I could....performance mentoring has definitely enabled me to do this.''
Professional flautist
About Me
Amy Littlewood - violinist and performance mentor
I studied violin at the Birmingham Conservatoire, both undergrad and postgrad and finished my time there with my piano trio on a fellowship course. I am associate 2nd violin with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, principal 2nd violin with Orchestra of the Swan, as well as freelancing with major orchestras across the UK. I am a founding member of the Hepplewhite Piano Trio which has performed extensively across the UK for chamber music societies and festivals, won numerous competitions and attended the prestigious IMS Prussia Cove.
Whilst at music college, I became particularly interested in the area of music psychology when preparing for competitions, exams and concerts. As I engaged with these psychological techniques, I noticed there was shift in my mind, from being in the practice room to on stage (which had a knock-on effect on my playing), soon realising that in order to perform as I wanted, a lot of my preparation needed to happen mentally. I realised that if my mind was not in the right place, or I had only prepared technically and not mentally, then my performance was affected. This combination I feel, is the key to a successful performance. It is an area that is often not spoken about within the performing arts industry, however, its parallel in sport is spoken about in great depth and of significant importance. The effects of performance anxiety affected me very negatively, so I felt passionately towards researching this area and wanted to develop my training in order to help others.
I believe that there are many people that could benefit from this work, whether to help particular problems such as interfering nerves, or to generally enhance performance.
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In addition to one-to-one private sessions, I also deliver talks and workshops to groups and organisations. As a mentor I am a visiting tutor at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, mentor for the CBSO career accelerator scheme and the CBSO Youth Orchestra, as well as a BAPAM trainer and provide support/resources for the Musicians' Union.
Qualifications:
BMus Hons, PG Cert, Diploma: Counselling and Psychotherapy
