Instructor Spotlight: Bryan Tay
Meet our instructor, Bryan Tay, a multifaceted keyboardist, arranger and music producer. As a sought-after musician, he tours with the biggest names in Mandopop including David Tao, Li Ronghao and JJ Lin. Currently, Bryan finds himself traveling to China every other week as part of David Tao’s Soul Power 2 tour, and also locally for renowned artists like George Lam and Leo Ku.
On the production side, he just finished the music production on the refreshed parade of Universal Studios Singapore, breathing new life into the park’s 30-minutes performance featuring a new theme song and different arrangements of the same theme for each scene.
We had a quick chat with Bryan during a break in his teaching schedule:
How do you balance your time in terms of teaching and performing/ producing?
Honestly it’s difficult to manage when deadlines and travel coincide, so I try to work on my macbook when I’m overseas. I might have to skip a hangout with my tour mates if I have to finish an arrangement. I still fall asleep on the plane while learning songs for the next concert but at least something’s done. I’m lucky to have nice people around me, the staff at SOMA will help me move my classes around and my students are understanding too.
Do you have any advice to share with students on finding this balance?
When it gets overwhelming, I put everything in my calendar and todo list. I schedule specific days to arrange, edit, learn songs, practice, etc and make sure there’s enough time for everything. It’s like a mind dump so that I’m not worried that there’s no time. This way I know when I can’t take on any new projects.
What advice would you give to the next generation of musicians to prepare them to be for the music industry?
Don’t just aim for the right notes and chords, aim for goosebumps and tears. Don’t just play to accompany, play to make them weep. Music is all about emotions, feels and vibes and you have to be a pro at giving people these experiences.
