Thanks so much for the reply. I don't think it's the level of the pieces he's struggling with.... (he's pretty proficient at that level and he also loves his classes with his private teacher) (not so much the conservatory which is very strict and in his words 'boring'). The issue I guess is more that I think he feels some pressure and expectation and I wondered how much practice is enough to keep improving to reach a professional level at some point, without killing the joy he gets from playing by doing too much/more than he wants to. That was my reason for asking how much you practiced at his age to gauge whether we're doing too much/little. Hope that makes more sense! An hour and a half to two hours sounds good. Thank you so much. He hopes to meet you one day. Maybe one day he can 'Play with Ray'. You're very kind taking the time to reply, very much appreciated.