Tay Soon Dee is currently the concertmaster and dizi instructor of the City Chinese Orchestra, as well as one of the founding members of the Singapore Chinese Instrumental Music Association.

Tay taught himself to play the dizi and erhu as a child, and went on to seek guidance from several masters, including erhu maestro Liu Ming Yuan, dizi maestro Lu Chun Ling and erhu artistes/educators Wang Yi and Xiang Zu Ying. This has enabled him to be a specialist in both string and bamboo flute instruments.

In 1983, Tay joined the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Chinese Orchestra (the current City Chinese Orchestra). He has since worked with conductor Tay Teow Kiat for over 200 concerts, often as a soloist or lead player, and has participated in several performance tours to China and Malaysia. Tay is also currently an erhu and dizi instructor for many primary and secondary schools; his students have achieved outstanding results in various local music competitions