Dr. Khoo Hui Ling
Founder, The Music Studios
Pedagogy Consultant, Coaching for Teachers
Teacher, Advanced Piano Performance Programme
A pianist, music educator, researcher and entrepreneur, Dr. Khoo Hui Ling is a highly sought-after piano pedagogue known for her insightful, student-centred approach and her ability to bring out the best in every learner. She believes that good music is sincere and vulnerable, ideals she infuses into both her teaching and her artistic endeavours.
Formerly a Lecturer at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YST), Hui Ling taught modules in professional development, contextual studies, pedagogy and community engagement. She has served on the executive committees of the Singapore Music Teachers' Association and the Southeast Asian Directors of Music (SEADOM), reflecting her deep commitment to advancing music education. Prior to her appointment at YST, she taught at Nanyang Girls' High School in Singapore, the University of Oregon and the preparatory division of the Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Today, Hui Ling devotes herself to a thriving private piano studio, where she is widely regarded as one of Singapore's most respected pedagogues. Her students consistently gain entry into and recognition at prestigious music programmes, festivals and competitions, a testament to her exacting standards, sensitivity to detail and gift for nurturing each individual's artistic voice. In 2018, she founded The Music Studios, a collective of private music teachers with a mission to help every learner build a lifelong friendship with music. Her innovative programmes for students and teachers have earned her invitations to share her research at the International Society for Music Education World Conference, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) Music Teacher Conferences, and the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference.
Constant musing on the interconnectivity between art and the world around us has inspired Hui Ling's eclectic array of musical projects. Her artistry at the piano has been heard in creatively programmed recitals in the United States, Europe and Singapore, as well as in multidisciplinary performances. In 2016, she produced short documentaries on the confluence of Chinese traditional music and painting in Tan Dun's 8 Memories in Watercolour as part of her doctoral research, culminating in a multimedia performance that premiered in the United States and Singapore.
Hui Ling graduated with a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Oregon in 2016 under the tutelage of Dean Kramer. She previously studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music with Brian Ganz, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music with Thomas Hecht. In her childhood and teenage years, her love for music was cultivated by Julie Tan, who taught her piano, and Xu Wen Jing, who taught her erhu.
The musical journey of an artist is a lifelong one. Since 2017, Hui Ling has been based in Singapore, her birth country, where she continues to inspire the next generation of pianists through her teaching, artistry and unwavering belief in the transformative power of music.