Brose offering music lessons and songwriting mentorship
A musician who recently moved to Sandy Hook has been nominated for another international song-writing award and is setting up a studio to welcome local and area students.
After falling for a woman from the Gimli area, James Brose – who also records under the name Jamie Brose – recently moved from Kenora, Ont., to Sandy Hook where he’s settling in, continuing to record music for a new album and teaching students.
Brose is waiting for the results from the U.K. Songwriting Contest, an annual international competition that he’s entered almost every year, apart from a few years during the COVID-19 pandemic when he took a break.
In 2018 he achieved the number 1 finalist position and overall winner in the rock category. This year, he entered a song into the contest’s adult contemporary category.
“In 2018 I ranked as number 1 in the world for the tune I wrote,” said Brose who plays guitar. “I’m currently waiting for the results of the 2024 contest. I’m expecting to be a finalist in this competition in more than one category and I’m pretty excited about it. I know I’m in the Top 4 right now and I’m waiting for pole position.”
The U.K. Songwriting Contest discovers new songwriting talent through songs submitted to its annual competition. The judges include Stuart Epps, a UK producer who has worked with Elton John, Oasis and Robbie Williams, among many musical stars.
Brose has made the competition’s finals almost every year since he first submitted material in 2015. Last year he was a finalist in three separate categories, made the Top 4 of the rock category and scored a five-star rating (out of five) and a commendation for his single Fly Me Away.
“Fly Me Away is a song about the Gimli Glider. I grew fascinated with Gimli. When I was living in Toronto, I remembered when the plane landed in Gimli with no loss of life. It was quite the story,” said Brose. “I drove out to the original runway to look at it when I was writing the song for the Glider’s 40th anniversary last year.”
As a result of winning numerous awards, Brose said his music could be placed in movies and television, which could be financially rewarding.
Having grown up in a musical family and learned classical music theory by the time he was 10 years old, Brose said teaching music has always been a “big part” of his life.
His primary instrument is guitar but he has taught bass, too. Not only is he welcoming new music students, but he’s also welcoming songwriters who want to hone their skills.
“I’d like to mentor people with their songwriting in addition to music theory if they’re interested,” he said.
He said he can teach all genres of music, including country, rock, jazz, blues and classical.
“Music theory applies to all genres. I like to start with teaching music theory then allow the student to apply that to what they like,” he said. “What I try to do is give students the tools they need to progress down their own path.”
While he waits for the results of the U.K. competition, Brose is finishing a CD that he’s working on with musician and music producer Murray Pulver (Doc Walker and the Crash Test Dummies) and bass player Spider (Kenneth Sinnaeve from the band Streetheart). He’s recorded with the “best of the best” including guitarist Theofilos Xenidis, (a.k.a. Phil X) of Bon Jovi. He has also toured with the Winnipeg band Harlequin.
“I’m working on my third album right now and Spider has played bass on every song. And Murray Pulver has produced every song as well,” he said.
Brose said he’s in the middle of posting all his music on a website called Bandcamp.com, which is similar to Spotify but pays the artists a much higher percentage of the money they make from song sales.
Having been in bands all his life and playing the music circuit between Toronto and Kenora, Brose said he misses live gigs.
“Right now, I’m focusing on songwriting and teaching, but I do miss gigging,” he said. “I’m contemplating how to best get back into gigging as I haven’t yet met any musicians in this area. It would be fun to get together.”
For more information about music lessons, contact James Brose at (807) 464-2690 or email: jfbrose4music@gmail.com
To listen to or purchase his songs, visit Bandcamp.com and search for Jamie Brose.
Express Photos Courtesy of James Brose
