While my son is in his piano lesson at our local music store, I sit in the foyer tapping and swiping away on my phone. It is two weeks away from the end-of-year concert when budding musicians play their best rehearsed song on a stage in front of mostly parents. My son flat out refuses to do this. When he first refused, I made a couple of encouraging remarks to help him get over what I thought was his nervousness. But then I shrugged. No problem, I said, we can both just watch. He doesn’t practice, not formally. Some mornings, before school, he stands in front of his keyboard banging away at the keys overtop a terrible demo-song and sometimes he’ll turn off the accompaniment to play little tunes like Ducks on the Pond or Old MacDonald. While I am looking forward to his playing improving, I don’t encourage him to practice. He is only six after all.