Singaporean horn player and educator Xavier Tan’s interests lie in performance science, the holistic development of musicians, and creating safe-spaces in a learning environment. The challenges he faced during his musical journey spurred him on to a road of self-help and self-improvement, which inspired his fascination and exploration of performance science during his postgraduate studies.
An alumnus of this Conservatory, Xavier studied with Jamie Hersch for his undergraduate studies. During his time in YST, he was also selected for an exchange programme to the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague, under the guidance of Herman Jeurissen. Upon graduation, Xavier found his way back to the Royal Conservatoire, and completed his Master of Music with Herman Jeurissen and Mees Vos on the modern horn, while pursuing a minor in the natural horn with Teunis van der Zwart.
Xavier’s postgraduate studies also led him to write a master thesis titled “OPTIMAL Practising: An Autonomous Journey of Exploring Enhanced Expectancies and External Focus”, where he borrowed the ideas from the OPTIMAL theory of motor learning (Wulf and Lewthwaite, 2016) to improve and strengthen the relationship he had with music practising and music making. Part of this research process also involved the creation of an intervention programme informed by the OPTIMAL theory, and applying it to 13 students from the Royal Conservatoire. Supervised by performance science expert Dr. Susan Williams, his thesis is available for public access on the Research Catalogue.
Xavier’s musical roots stemmed from performing with community groups such as The Philharmonic Winds, Orchestra of the Music Makers, The Philharmonic Orchestra, Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra, ACJC Alumni Band, Kids’ Philharmonic Orchestra and ADDO Chamber Orchestra. During his overseas studies, he also performed with community groups such as Nieuw Geluid and went on tour with the Nederlands Studenten Orkest.
Upon returning to Singapore from his postgraduate studies, Xavier actively performs and has been freelancing with professional ensembles such as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, re:Sound, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and Singapore Lyric Opera. He is also part of the Singapore Horn Sounds, which has held recitals both locally and overseas, as well as being the organiser of the yearly Horn Day, where horn students gather for a day of learning and playing the horn.
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