From an early age, Clara's career and life were planned down to the smallest detail by her Father. She received daily one-hour lessons (in piano, violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint) and had to practice for two hours, using the teaching methods her Father had developed. In March 1828, at the age of eight, Clara Wieck performed at the Leipzig home of Dr. Ernst Carus, Director of the mental hospital at Colditz Castle. There, she met another gifted young Pianist who had been invited to the musical evening, Robert Schumann, who was nine years older. Schumann admired Clara's playing so much that he asked permission from his mother to stop studying law, which had never interested him much, and take music lessons with Clara's Father. While taking lessons, he rented a room in the Wieck household, staying about a year. He would sometimes dress up as a ghost and scare Clara, and this created a bond.