Yeah Peter, I think Northrop hit the nail square on the head.

Almost every contemporary musician who's written about their beginnings talks about the sheer wonder and excitement of discovering new things. I think "natural" musicians are simply folks who saw learning as "fun" rather than hard work and drudgery. Sometimes it starts at age 6 and other times, 56. I learned to enjoy reading at a very early age, but never learned how to study. I suspect if my father or mother had said "After you finish 'Great Expectations', we'll have a quiz", the magic would have disappeared, and I'd have chucked Dickens real fast and gone skating. I'd rather not put expectations of any kind on someone learning to play an instrument...so I never give homework.

Rick