Quietly withdraw and go before the others (7)
I believe the answer is:
precede
'go before the others' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'quietly withdraw' is the wordplay.
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'withdraw' becomes 're-cede' (receding is a kind of withdrawing).
'p'+'recede'='PRECEDE'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for precede that I've seen before include "Pave the way" , "Occur before" , "Go before in time or order" , "be in the van" , "Take the lead" .)