Since Mr Brando’s formative years in St. Patrick’s School Military Band and St. Andrew’s Junior College, music has played an integral role in his life. His musical journey continued in his National Service when he joined The Singapore Armed Forces Central Band, serving as its principal Bass Trombonist. Seeing the need for constant self-improvement. Brando spent a year at the National Institute of Education (Singapore) and graduated in 2004 with a Specialist Diploma in Band Directing.
During his ten years of band directing, Brando has brought many young ensembles to great heights. In 2005 and 2007, he led Ang Mo Kio Secondary School (AMKSS), Commonwealth Secondary School (CSS) and Xinmin Secondary School (XMS) to consecutive Gold Awardsin the Singapore Youth Festival. Brando made significant breakthroughs in his music career when AMKSS and XMS clinched the highest accolade in SYF 2007, 2009 and 2011. In the same period, he successfully led Nanyang Junior College Symphonic Band and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School with their Gold Award in the school’s history.
As part of this aspiration to bring out the musical best in every band member, Brando constantly organizes local and international band concerts, master classesand overseas tours. Thehighlights of these events would include the participation as a clinician in the New York State Band Directors’ Conference in 2008 and Colorado State University Pueblo Festival of Windin2014. Over the years, Brando has worked with band luminaries Dr Douglas Stotter (USA), Dr Robert Halseth (USA), Dr Alan Mills, Meryl Wamhoff (USA), Bill Buchanan (Australia), Peter Francis (Australia) and Mr Surapol Thanyawibool (Thailand) amongst many others.
When he served his third term as the President of the Band Directors’ Association of Singapore (BDAS), Brando and his team hosted the Asia Pacific Band Directors Association Conference in 2012 bringing together more than 50 bands from the region to Singapore.
Currently, Mr Brando Tan is the Band Directorof Ang Mo Kio Secondary School and Nanyang Junior College, he is also serving as the Vice President of the Band Directors’ Association (Singapore)