Amy Littlewood

I studied violin at the Birmingham Conservatoire and finished my time there with the Hepplewhite Piano Trio on a fellowship course. As an orchestral player I am Associate 2nd violin with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, have a position with Orchestra of the Swan and freelance with 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 a shift in my mind (which had a knock-on effect on my playing) from being in the practice room to being on the stage, soon realising that in order to perform as I wanted, a lot of my preparation was happening 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 music industry, however, its parallel in sport is spoken about, explored in great depth and is of great importance! This inspired me to start my research into this area and become a performance mentor. 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.