I've noticed a pattern among the childhood stories of young musicians (and artists in general). They either found the instrument fascinating on its own and were

I've noticed a pattern among the childhood stories of young musicians (and artists in general). They either found the instrument fascinating on its own and were just enjoying toying with it [1] or were surrounded by people (parents, family) who enojoy playing music, and that enjoyment infected them. On the other hand, the people I know who were forced by parents to practice piano for years have not touched it ever in their adult life. They treated it as just another chore, such as say biology class at school - something they have to do, but have no interest in and will drop from their mind as soon as they don't have to do it any more. [1] A common subscenario here is some kind of dysfunction (prolonged illness, dysfunctional family, not fitting with other children for some reason) which pushed the kid into a lonely parallel universe of just sitting on their own and praticing their art for years.