Satie hated his piano lessons. His teacher said that he was the laziest pupil in the Conservatoire. He was bad at sight-reading, but he continued with his lessons because this would make it possible for him to do just one year of military service instead of five. In fact, he did less than a year in the army because he deliberately got himself ill with bronchitis. While he was getting better he started to compose. His father published a few songs he had written. However, he did not get on well with his family and he left home in 1887.