We asked a range of creative professionals to tell us something about their education, background and career. Todays contribution is from musician and teacher, Jess Edwards

I have always enjoyed music; I started playing the flute at the age of 8. It took me so long to get a sound out at first, but my perseverance finally paid off, and I had lessons all the way up to when I finished university. I had always dabbled with piano a bit as my Grandad played the keyboard, but when I was ten, I begged my parents to begin piano lessons and even offered to pay for them myself!

Whilst at school I would sing and play in various choirs and ensembles, I also used to go to a local amateur dramatic group on Wednesday evenings.

When I was at sixth form, I took on some flute students as I had passed my grade 8 and wanted to pass my knowledge and skills onto other people.

I studied a BA in Music at the University of East Anglia, whilst studying I had the goal that I wanted to be a secondary school music teacher, so I applied for a teaching work experience scheme which ran for three weeks. I really enjoyed the work experience, and it cemented my decision of becoming a music teacher and so I applied for school centred initial teacher training (SCITT) when I finished university. Once I had completed my teacher training, I applied for jobs and ended up getting the post of Head of Music. I was unsure about going straight into a head of department post straight away, but I was glad I did it.

After starting a family and going part time I took on some private piano, flute and singing students and eventually I gave up the classroom teaching to focus on the private teaching.

I joined a Steely Dan tribute band in 2009, initially just singing backing vocals but then I would listen to some of their tracks and started to add in some bits of flute and melodica too. We performed in various venues across East Anglia.

I’m currently teaching piano and singing and I love it!

For me, the biggest barrier in the creative field can be the perception of music, most people tend to think of the arts as simply a hobby, which it can be, but it can also be a career too. I feel incredibly fortunate to do a job that involves my hobby every day!

My advice to anyone wanting to enter the creative field is to never compare yourself to others, only compare yourself to you.