Well, I've finally sent my resignation in to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. From January 1st I will be an ex-Chartered Accountant. I've committed myself to having music as an occupation. I won't say a career, as I'm not sure if it'll build into one yet. I'll have to wait and see.

Most of me recognises that this is the final paperwork on a state of affairs which has really been the case since not long after the Adult Learners' Concert in Chertsey last February. The disaster of my short-term contract over the summer was probably exacerbated by the fact that my heart really wasn't in accountancy by then (not that it wasn't an awful contract anyway). And that part of me feels an enormous sense of relief that the decision is now properly made.

But a small part of me feels a bit bereft. I spent fifteen years as an accountant - studied like stink to qualify and took on some truly tough assignments to build my career and achieve my promotions. It has funded my music to date, and has put me into a secure enough position that I can carry on the music without it. I know that I could, should the need arise, go back to finance, in a more junior capacity. Nonetheless, a sizeable chunk of what I am/was has just ended.

On the positive side, my singing has improved so much since I stopped looking for finance work. And the other instruments are coming on well - which wouldn't be possible with a day job. It's quite an exciting position to be in - I don't know what's next, I can't predict how things will turn out. I know how lucky I am to be able to opt out of the "rat race", and I intend to enjoy every minute of it!

Cheers

(for the last time) Katyjay ACA ATCL

Wow katyjay - well done for taking the plunge! All I can say is that I find music a most rewarding and flexible career. It is especially good for when/if you have children. I have a general sort of "pianist about town" thing going which fits in nicely with my life. However I do remember when I first changed from doing things for free to charging for my services. I guess I was lucky in that there weren't many pianists around at the time and people were more than happy to pay me. I did a kind of - this is my living now so i will no longer be able to play for you for free - type speech. I had a maths degree at the time and was seriously considering accountancy but I'm now glad I never started down that road. My job is my dream job - how many people can say that? Good luck!

Good luck.

Also on the subject of flexibility - I feel so lucky when I hear people agonizing about trying to juggle their hours at work. If I want to work more hours - I can. If I want to work less hours - I can. If I want to perform more and teach less - I can. If I want to teach more and perform less - I can. (I'm starting to get a bit repetetive now - sorry!) Anyway enough gushing about how much I love my job!

Brave girl. It is a big step and the plunge can be hard to contemplate.

Good luck. Have fun. I think it is pretty obvious that the rest of us do.

Steve

Well done for taking such a big step and for feeling so positive about it. I didn't have to do anything quite as drastic (unless you count having three sons ) when I changed my career, but an equivalent time for me was when I decided not to go back to my job in computing with a major British company after taking maternity leave. It was a big reduction in our family income, but we managed.

The decision to start flute teaching was a gradual and easy one compared with that - I started teaching a couple of teenagers I knew already, and a 10-year-old who I didn't, and my student numbers increased gently to start with, and then snowballed, mostly by word of mouth. I've never regretted leaving computing, nor starting to teach music. It's really my ideal job.

Well done you!

I well understand how you feel as I had a complete career change 3 years ago after 2 years part time college to qualify while working fulltime.
(at the age of 43 swapped from 23 years as a sewing machinist to Clinical Data Administrator and Medical Note Summeriser)

I'm sure you're doing the right thing and won't regret it

I think a lot of people feel the same when they leave one career (after a good number of years) to follow another, regardless of how much they loved or hated the work they did.

A directional change in work is a huge step to take for anyone, but there's the saying, "As one door closes another one opens". You are now following your heart and in no time at all you will be so engrossed within your music, you'll wonder how on earth you spent so many years counting other peoples beans.

All the best for your success!!

All the best in your new occupation. I greatly admire your courage and conviction to make such a move and hope you get everything you want and more out of your music.

I only wish I had the same courage and conviction to make such a move!

I second that!!!

Good luck - I'm sure you were a monumentally good accountant too if you concert organising capacity id anything to go by

A quote from one of he songs in Phantom of the Opera sprang to mind:

"...The bridge is crossed, now stand and watch it burn"

A decision like yours is very hard to make - resigning from the Institute of Chartered Accountants is definitely closing the door and you have a new life with different priorities in front of you. When I decided to go for teaching it wasn't as drastic a change as yours is, but it was marked all along the way by synchronicity.

I took on my first paying pupils in July 2003, 18 months before I retired, in order to have the necessary five pupils and a minimum of a year's teaching before going on the CT course. My mother had died in September 2002 and I was able to use money from her estate to buy a really good piano - something she would have been happy about. In March 2003 a new music shop opened a few minutes' walk from my home, and most of my pupils have come via this contact and word of mouth. I started playing the cello as a means of doing something as a beginner, as recommended on the CT taster day I went on (well, that's my excuse anyway!). I had considerable trouble finding a teacher, then two people came up with the same name. It wasn't in the direction I wanted to go because of likely traffic problems, but I decided to give it a try anyway, in the absence of any other contenders. I went for a suitability interview, and found that my prospective teacher had been a recent mentor on the CT course and was also a current ABRSM examiner. I have been with her now for over a year and found her to be a great support during the course and a continuing inspiration from the teaching point of view.

I think when you are destined to do something these synchronicities occur, and I'm sure you will find that things like that will happen to you - I would look at that awful last job in that light!

Best of luck in your new venture, Katyjay.

Does anyone else have stories of synchronicities that have helped them to get where they are today?

Good luck katyjay!

Car Expert

Good luck!

Well done and good luck, katyjay!

I made a change from being a primary class teacher to becoming a music specialist. It doesn't sound like much of a change, but if you had seen me when I started teaching and knew how great was my conviction that I wasn't musical and was rubbish at it, then you would realise that actually it has been a VERY big change!

Bagpuss was a Marketing Manager for a large mail order firm for several years prior to making the switch to music teaching, and Hammerklavier was a French polisher - so you are not alone in closing one door but opening another (much larger) one.

Good luck, Katyjay - what a courageous thing to do! I hope you have a very fruitful new career (I mean occupation) & wish I'd had the courage to change direction years ago !

"...The bridge is crossed, now stand and watch it burn"

Ha! I like it.

Good luck Katyjay. I am quite sure you will make a huge success of your career change.

That took great courage, Katyjay. Well done and welcome to the club! All the BEST for the future!

All the best Katyjay, from a fellow bridge-burner...

(but just think, if you didn't do it, you'd spend the rest of your life thinking "what if...?")

Good luck Katyjay, I hope you enjoy your musical career as much as I have enjoyed mine. I made the change when I was in my early thirties and my children were all at school, and I have never regretted it.

Have fun with it.

Sort of. I was getting increasingly de-motivated in my dull office job last year, spending more and more time thinking about music. Then came the announcement we were all expecting: they were closing our office and making us redundant.

I, however, was and still am the only one who knows how to do my job, and nobody seemed to realise this until about ten days before the office closed. I negotiated working part-time from home on the basis that I could do music in the rest of the time. I'm glad I kept up the part-time work, as the music teaching hasn't been as financially successful as I'd liked. Nevertheless, I do enjoy it, and get a real buzz when Pupil makes obvious progress - witness the screaming and dancing when he passed his Grade 2 (if only he'd been as excited by it!).

Best of luck for the future, katyjay, and I hope it all works out for you. I expect February's concert now to be nothing less than brilliant (and how about we do The Shepherd on the Rock?). And if by any remote chance you do want to keep some practice in with accountancy things, you are welcome to tackle my tax return.

Thank you everyone for your good wishes.

Deborah - sorry. I never did personal tax other than the bare minimum needed to (1) pass the exams and (2) do my own return. I wouldn't take the risk of doing anyone else's - not even my husband's.

The February concert will of course be brilliant. As will my recital on the Tuesday lunchtime beforehand! Not that I'm being modest or anything... Details will go up early next week.

The Shepherd on the Rock might be fun (or it might end up being "Shepherd On The Rocks" as my delightful and supportive teacher put it )


Cheers

Katyjay

Well done KatyJay . I think you've made a really exciting step foward in your life. I understand what you say about how hard you studied for you accountancy exams but it was not time wasted. You have had a good career in accountancy but what is wrong with wanting to change. A working life is about 40 years. Why should you have to do the same thing for 40 years? Your not the same person as you were when you started your career. Our expectations for life change as we grow older so something what suited us when we were in our 20 may not apply 20 years later. Especially now when the emphasis is more on life long learning I think it is becoming more acceptable to change career in you mid-working life.

You are really fortunate that you have this opportunity so I think you should grab it and run with it.

I have been thinking a lot about this myself this year. David being so ill this year has really made me think about my own future. I realised I had been coasting along not really giving any thought to may long term future. David's illness has made me realise, and him too, how short and fragile life is (I know that sounds a bit trite but it is true). We both realise that you have got to make the most of your opportunities that come your way. Anyway I made on decison and that is I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK INTO ACCOUNTANCY, I have had enough of it, so you see I fully endorse your decision. So I have GONE BACK TO COLLEGE arghhhhh . I started in October which was just before David started returning to work so the timing couldn't have been better. I am doing a part time degree in Ancient History at university. This degree was something I started when the my children were quite small but had to give up when I had to go back to work when we were really skint. I phoned the university and they said I could pick up where I left off. I am so glad I did it, I am really enjoying it. It gives me something to focus on outside of the house, I think if I just had gone back to being a housewife I would be spending all my time worrying about David. I don't know what I will do when I finish I can't think that far ahead yet. I just want to get past the next two years with David staying in remission. But who knows I might go and become a librarian I've always quite fancied doing something like that.


I don't think I could have a career in music, I have often thought about teaching the flute but I don't think teaching is for me. Still going to keep up my piano as a hobby though. So good luck and I really hope you enjoy your new career.

Hmmm just had a thought I think I'm going to change my signature to take into account my new status as a student.

Congratulations on your decision, Lucia. Hope everything goes well for you and David.

Cheers

Katyjay

Congratulations to you Katyjay, and to you too, Lucia! You're inspirational.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I've just spotted oboebunny's revised signature, with 141 for Grade 2 violin. Well done oboebunny!

katyjay, I trust you aren't pining for the accountancy yet?

Congratulations, oboebunny - I hadn't noticed your revised signature until Deborah pointed it out.

Good heavens NO! I had the lady from the Institute on the phone today asking me if I was really, REALLY, REALLY sure I wanted to quit being an accountant.

Yes, I replied really, REALLY, REALLY sure.

Good luck Katyjay

I have followed your story so far with interest, and look forward to further installments! You have the advantage of seeing very clearly what you want, and it makes great sense to take notice of that.

Presumably, in any event your silky accountancy skills won't suddenly evaporate, and if you discover 3 minutes into your first lesson (as if!) that you actually don't like singing after all, you could always leap back onto the treadmill and invest in some new books about tax law!

Congrats Katyjay for having the courage and determination to pursue your passions. Regardless of what the future holds I'm sure that each day will have the potential to be a positive experience as you begin this new chapter in your life.

Enjoy this new chapter with all its highs and lows to the fullest.

Regards,


Musictuary

Well, following on from my phone call from the Institute, I received a letter from them.

They accept my resignation, but want my certificate back! The cheek of it!

Outrageous!

Mind you I guess they have to make sure you're not still secretly displaying it!

Keep a photocopy for posterity .

I guess I'll have to find the wretched thing.

Hmmm..... wonder what would happen if you'd lost it??????

Hello Everyone, I'm new here.

Just read your post Katyjay and wanted to add that I also parted company with my investment banking career two years ago (have spent the past 2 years working on the refurb of the new marital home!) and can really appreciate what a big step it must have been - so well done! I am 31 and now that the builders have gone I am awaiting the delivery of my 30th (!) birthday present from my lovely husband - a Yamaha Grand Piano (Silent!). Having spent the past 2 years feeling a bit lost after leaving my job, I finally have renewed enthusiasm for my music - which i had secretly missed for all these years. I'm sure the Yamaha will be a joy to play in comparison to my old upright which is still standing in my parent's living room.

Anyway, I'm not sure where all this will take me - I plan to finaly do my grade 8 on the piano as I never got round to it when I was younger and i've felt bad about it ever since. I have also enrolled for singing lessons, which is something I have wanted to do for years but kept thinking "what's the point, i'll never be a good singer anyway". I am also thinking about starting the violin but will need to get more info on that first. Now that I am lucky enough to be in a position to do all the things I have dreamed of, instead of wasting my life away in the City, I have decided to grab the bull by the horns and then see what happens. At least I won't regret not having a go.

Your post (and many of the other posts on this forum) have really helped me to feel more confident about pursuing all those things that deep down I have always wanted to do. It's all too easy to listen to and worry about "negative" people who are not encouraging and who think I am doing the wrong thing (e.g. wasting my univ. education and professional qualifications) but as soon as I started reading this forum I knew that I was on the right path.

Good luck to you Katyjay, and good luck to all the other adult musicians here!

Thank you for that, Euridice.

I think that for me, the accountancy was always a means to an end. It took until I was 35 to discover what that end was.

I read somewhere that one should decide whether, when one is old and looking back on one's life, one wants to be saying "I wish I had......" or saying "I'm glad I did....."

I certainly fall into the second of those two choices.

Good luck with the piano and singing. And with the violin, if you decide to go for it - I've just started it and am really enjoying it.

Do keep us informed of how it's going.

Cheers

Katyjay

(ps - check out the Viva boards for piano, singing and strings. Lots of technical advice and repertoire ideas!)

Hi Katyjay,

Really pleased to hear your story. I've been in the RAF for the last 15 years, and I'm quitting the military and aviation to go back to music. I hope to go back to music college in Sept 07, and pursue a career as a pianist in some shape way or form. I'll be 37, and quitting a substantial salary (my husband is still recovering from the shock!).

I was so scared that I'd get to 60, always saying 'I'll go back to music one day' and never doing it. I've just started serious practice again, and I have no idea how much skill fade I've got, or whether I'll be able to get back to the standard necessary, after 14 years off - but you have to give it a go, haven't you!

Absolutely, you do have to give it a go. And best of luck with your piano playing, Bing.

That's wonderful katyjay, good luck!

If you are within reach of East London have a look at the Web site for the East London Late Starters' [string] Orchestra which meets on Saturdays and offers tuition, loan of instruments etc. as well as the chance to play in an orchestra immediately!
http://www.ellso.org.uk/