Piano lessons, let my DS or not?

[Anonymous]

My 15 y/o DS has been taking piano lessons for 9 years. He is phenomenal. I know all parents are proud of their kids, but my DS truly is amazing. Currently he's working on Chopin's Etude Op.25, No. 11 (Winter Wind). He can play anything his teacher sets in front of him. His talent amazes everyone! But he wants to quit! He's in high school now. It's a pretty challenging school (that he loves--he refers to school as his 'happy place'). He plays Euphonium in band, which he could take or leave. He has piano lessons at a local (and very reputable) University once a week. He wants to wrestle and run track next year--which he could do and take piano. But he keeps saying he wants to quit piano! That he hates piano. He doesn't want to switch teachers. He's just done. I need advice! Should I just let him quit?? He doesn't want to pursue piano or music in college or as a career. I accept that, I just think he'll regret quitting. At the same time I want to give him freedom.

[Anonymous]

let him quit

[Anonymous]

Let him quit! He can always come back to it but her probably just wants a break.

[Anonymous]

Let him quit. If he is already amazing and can play anything, he will find his way back to it if and when he misses it.

[Anonymous]

At this level - he knows how to play the piano

[Anonymous]

He wants to try other things vs practicing as much. If he doesn't plan to major in piano in college, then there really isn't any need for him to continue lessons. He is already a skilled pianist who can play whatever he wants. And he may come back to it at some point.

[Anonymous]

Op, I say this as a mom of a pretty serious player from A family of musicians: let him quit.

He's old enough to know himself well on this one. He may come back to it. (He will probably come back to it) He may not.

[Anonymous]

At this level it is so much more than playing the notes correctly. If the teacher is working on refining his quality of sound and working on various interpretation skills making him repeat the same phrase over and over again, it is understandable that he may not want to get into the details.
The Etude you mentioned is not particularly difficult. He is probably seeing others his own age playing half of the etudes from OPUS 10 and 25. To have phenomenal technique he should have played OP 10 # 1,2,4,5,12 as well as OP 25 # 5,8,11,12 with adequate tempo, light touch, good interpretation and clear pedaling.

[Anonymous]

Let him quit.

Sounds like he is doing this for you, not for himself. At some point down the road he may miss music and go back to it on his own terms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At this level it is so much more than playing the notes correctly. If the teacher is working on refining his quality of sound and working on various interpretation skills making him repeat the same phrase over and over again, it is understandable that he may not want to get into the details.
The Etude you mentioned is not particularly difficult. He is probably seeing others his own age playing half of the etudes from OPUS 10 and 25. To have phenomenal technique he should have played OP 10 # 1,2,4,5,12 as well as OP 25 # 5,8,11,12 with adequate tempo, light touch, good interpretation and clear pedaling.

Who cares about his technique or what etude he played. he is tired of playing piano and wants to do other things. His actual skill is pretty irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Let him quit. If you need to, frame it as taking some time off so he can do other things. He can always pick it back up later if he wants.

[Anonymous]

I can't see forcing a 15 year old to stick with an extracurricular they want to quit. The more you force, the more he will resist. It is possible that if you back off, he might continue.

If it were me, I would tell the kid he can take a break for the rest of the school year and summer. But that in exchange, he need to sit down and talk to me at the end of the summer about next school year. If he still wants to quit, fine. But he will at least re-evaluate in August after her has had several months off and make sure that's still what he wants.

Also, something to keep in mind. I have a HS musician (probably not as talented as your kid though!) who needs to take a year off of band. We just settled on him taking AP Music Theory instead. Win-Win. He gets AP credit, and still stays in touch with music and his instrument, since elementary composition, etc., are part of the course. If that is an option for your might renew his interest in music, or help him look at music as more than hours of piano practice time.

[Anonymous]

^^ PP above, and my DCs school also has 2 Jazz bands-- one curricular and one extracurricular. They use piano players. If your DC's school has one, that's another way for him to keep playing some, but different "cooler" more fun music. Once again, you can't force it. But ask him if something like jazz band would be a good alternative. If he isn't going into music performance, then anything that keeps him playing some could work. Think outside the box.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was in your position a year ago. My DS is now 16 (sophomore).

Last year he wanted to quit. I told him it would be an option in the summer. But then a wonderful thing happened. His school has a class called Applied Piano where a student who successfully auditions can take as an art elective. DS was required to take art in his sophomore year and he doesn't draw and didn't want to take a photography course or chorale arts. So he auditioned for this course and got in! Now he is able to utilize his piano period for his practice time each day and he has his lesson once a week. For him it is an easy A, and he gets his daily practice done during school. He is going to do this for the rest of high school. And I didn't have to force it on him.

In your situation, I would give him the option to quit. At this age, you really shouldn't force these types of things on kids. They are already under a lot of pressure to succeed in academic and athletic pursuits. At this stage, his heart needs to be in it.

[Anonymous]

Let him quit so he can explore other extracurricular activities.