Letters to the Editor
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Talk to her
Wow, what other musical instrument in the history of the world has had the power to inspire such familial emotional angst?
I think the mother's a narcissist but there are enough letters at this point focused on her, so I won't add to it.
And maybe Cary's right and the girl just needs a new teacher or some more flexibility for self-expression and exploration, but I don't think he was very clear on how the LW should go about determining that: TALK to your daughter, to her as a person, not as her career potential. Relax and have a real conversation about what she wants out of her own life.
On the off-chance that the daughter is reading this: If you truly need to quit and there's no room for compromise with your mother, there's a stunningly easy solution that I employed to great effect when I was 8 years old: refuse to go to lessons--don't get in the car. Refuse to practice. Your mother can punish you any number of ways, but she can't actually force you to play the piano.
I work in the arts and I witness on a daily basis the suffering and waste caused by people doing what they don't really want to be doing, because they think they "should" for some inane reason. If you don't enjoy your work, your misery and carelessness show through.