Margaret Leng Tan ( simplified Chinese : 陈灵 ; traditional Chinese : 陳靈 ; pinyin : Chén Líng ) is a classical music artist known for her work as a professional toy pianist, performing in major cities around the world on her 51 cm-high toy pianos . She is also known to be a classical music performer using unconventional instruments like toy drums, soy sauce dishes, and cat-food cans. 　　She was born in Singapore on 12 December 1945, the daughter of former Straits Times Press chairman Tan Chye Cheng , and started taking music lessons at the age of six. In 1961 the young Tan took first place in the Singapore-Malaysia annual piano competition, and won a scholarship to study at The Juilliard School at age 16 in the following year. In 1971 she became the first woman to earn a Doctorate in Musical Arts at Juilliard, and became the diva of the prepared piano, inserting nuts and bolts into the instrument and playing it inside out to rave reviews.