let a musical student quit lessons?

[luv2teach]

My transfer student has had 4 years of piano and is musical but extremely lazy.  Like many students, dislikes practicing.   The parents do not want to see their child give up lessons even though he wants to quit.  Recently, I introduced Disney and pop music and he seemed to practice only that.   The parents want the student to do an exam but the student is not keen on working hard to prepare for it.   Any advice?

[lagin]

From experience I'd say, 1st priority of the teacher is to keep the love of music alive.  Perhaps arrange a sit down with parents and kid to discuss what this year's goals will be, and see if some sort of agreement can be reached.  I pushed a kid to do "traditional" repertoire when all's she wanted to do was five finger easy stuff.  Unfortunately she isn't taking lessons at all anymore.  I wish I would have taught her with the pop tunes and moved her super slowly, even if it took her 2 or 3 years to do what could be done in one.  At least she would still be learning.  And who knows, maybe she would have "grown" into it more as she got more mature and realized how "cool" harder songs sound in comparison.  So, yeah, above all, do your best to accommodate both, but not to the extend that the student gets bored with music.  Talk to the parents about it.  Explain the situation.  Tell them that right now, your main concern is keeping little Bob or Sally interested since they are at an age where they are prone to become discouraged with the endevour.  You could tell them that you would be willing to sit down with everyone together and see what the student wants from piano, and see if the parents and the child can both do a bit of give and take.  Perhaps do 2 disney songs and 1 classical, and see how that goes?

[amelialw]

well perhaps talk to your student, just tell her what her parents want and tell her that she has to learn some other pieces and you will carry on teaching he/her those disney and pop songs but she/he has to agree to practise some of the more important things.
However you have to talk to the parents too, make sure they are committed towards helping their kid, that's the most important thing.