For many people studying the piano means assuming what one adult called "obedience mode." Even while shuddering I see the point.

That particular form of obedience is actually quite self-destructive, for obedience implies the power to disobey while the authority traditionally ceded to one's piano teacher extends to the pleasure one takes in the music itself.

As long as we play to please the teacher--while usually in the dark as to what exactly that means--we are not learning to value our own standards. Even at less-advanced levels those standards involve no less than joy, satisfaction, fulfillment. Shouldn't the teacher be supporting these attributes rather than perpetuating the infantile state of never measuring up?