Hello all. Here's something that's been troubling me about the music career path I've recently started on. And I think my
complaint is inherently part of the business, not a reflection of how it's going for me (which is quite according to my hopes).

A music career seems very cumulative - you build up a reputation and a network of contacts as you go along, that are very
important to continuing to find work. Related to this is the model of "paying your dues" in the early years than having it pay off
later.

The problem that I see is that this makes it difficult to move geographically, or to do something else for a while and then come
back to music - because it would mean losing your reputation and network and starting again from square one.

I like to move to new places, and I like to change jobs every year or so, and I've always done jobs that were easily picked
up and dropped so it wasn't an issue. But now I'm worried that if I spend a year or two making a go of it as a freelance
musician, I'll feel like I can't move town or take a year off or my dues-paying would be wasted. (I realize that I would still
have the business skills and performance skills I'm developing if I started again later.)

I feel too young to be tied down to a career, even if it is a cool career; and I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my life
stuck in Toronto.

Pardon the rambling - what I want to know is, do any of you have success stories about dropping or moving away from a
music career then starting again? Or, do any of you musicians secretly want to move to a different country, or take a long
sabbatical, but feel that you can't because it would be too much of a professional setback?

Thanks for your thoughts, Marion