By Kimberley Lim

In a few weeks, Ms Rebecca Koh, who is blind, will know if she has aced her piano fellowship exam.

That fellowship accolade is one of the highest a player can aspire to achieve.

'Of the 80 students I've taught, only one other besides Rebecca has taken the test and that student passed,' said Mrs Tan Khe Tong, 81, who has guided Ms Koh for the past three years.

The test, which Ms Koh took a week ago, requires one to play five pieces, with some clocking in at 20 minutes.

So how does Ms Koh, 30, who was born blind, master music sans reading scores of some pieces which can run to 18 pages?

Said Mrs Tan: 'Her ears are her eyes. Her fingers give her the will to press the notes and her determination enables her to endure hours of practice.'

Said Ms Koh, an only child, who does not work: 'Since birth, I could only listen to the things around me, and in the end, I fell in love with music.'

Her father, Mr Sebastian Koh, recalled that when she was six, she could reproduce music he had taught her on the organ. 'I knew then that she was talented,' he said.

She started piano lessons at seven and completed her Grade 8 examination in 1998 at 19.

In 1999, however, the lessons were discontinued after her father's business of selling second-hand pianos failed.

It was only in 2006, when Ms Koh was introduced to Mrs Tan via a mutual acquaintance, that her quest to master music was renewed.

'It was a challenge I could not refuse,' said Mrs Tan, president of Royston Music School.

Mr Koh, 59, who is now a taxi driver, said Mrs Tan has not charged 'a single cent for tuition these past three years'.

She usually charges $250 to $300 a month for diploma students.

Under Mrs Tan's tutelage, Ms Koh obtained first her diploma and then her licentiate from the London College of Music at Thames Valley University.

Ms Koh will be in Kuala Lumpur on April 25 to perform at a graduation ceremony for licentiate holders.

'This way, she can be an inspiration to others,' said Mrs Tan, who had urged the organising committee to let Ms Koh play.

The piano student said: 'I'm still unsure of my future. All I know is, I want to share my music with the world.'

Watch Ms Rebecca Koh play Schubert's Impromptu in A flat major Op 142 on straitstimes.com

This article was first published in The Straits Times.