Music never leaves. Performing sometimes gets put on hold, though. I used to retire from the music biz every few years, but I always ended up getting dragged back in. Somebody would call with a gig. Or I'd see someone perform on TV and think, "man, I can do better than that".

Making music and learning to make better music has always been my "under riding" obsession. Like a river that runs underneath the surface of my life. Occasionally, I have tried to make it the surface and the results haven't always been what I wanted. Trying to make a living playing music is a horrible thing. I find that you have to degrade the music to make it a salable commodity. You have to associate with people you don't like to sell it (and yourself). And once you've turned your "art" into a commodity, packaged it and dealt it to someone you've lost control of it. It belongs to someone else who can use it as they will. The only way to avoid that process is to say "No, this means too much to me." And to walk away. And then you're back to not making a living playing music.

You can leave music. You can make a concious effort to no longer have music in your life. Just the same way that you can make a concious effort not to breathe. The results are much the same.