"You Can't Just Make Stuff Up"

"You can't just make stuff up. That's not how this works." I don't know how many times I've said that to certain students. It's always in the context of things like "The keys already have names. You can't just call them whatever you want. Just like you already I have a name. I can't just call you Suzy because you remind me of someone I used to know named Suzy..." or when they complain about how confused they are about a concept you've explained countless times because every time you did, they came up with a counter story that had nothing to do with what you're actually trying to teach them...of course you're confused. You just made up stuff and it doesn't work like that.

So, here's my struggle with this. It drives me crazy. I don't mind if you legitimately don't understand something and we have to go over it again. It's totally fine if I have to re-explain something because you missed something or forgot or I didn't teach it to you in a way that you understand. But when you are not even bothering to pay attention because you're too busy making stuff up. UGH! Why are you wasting my time???? But, here's the other side of it. Clearly, you're very creative. You have a great imagination. Those are wonderful qualities for a musician. How can I help you harness that and use it in a way that enhances your musical education while at the same time trying not to allow you to derail it for yourself...and biting my tongue because what I want to say will not be helpful for either of us. How can I help you learn the rules so that you can learn when to appropriately break them? What can I allow you to "make up" so you can use your amazing creativity? How do I get you to focus and do what is necessary to build the skills you need to be able to unleash your creativity?