Jason Brown started playing the trumpet in sixth grade, but he wanted to quit before entering Dickinson High School because he was intimidated, he said.

He stuck it out, signed up for band freshman year and loved it—so much in fact that he went on to earn a music business degree from the University of Houston and turned to coaching as a career.

It was this pivot that led him to start his business, JB’s Music School.

The backstory

Browne started JB's Music School in 2015, and six months later, he was coaching 76 students on audition preparation, music theory, range, multiple tonguing and sight reading.

As he was teaching, Browne said he got tired of how long it took his students to get their instruments repaired.

“The turnaround time was like two to three weeks ... and you can’t take two to three weeks off because of auditions and practices,” Browne said.

So, he began to teach himself and shadow other repairers to fix his students’ instruments the best he could.

By 2017, Browne changed his business to JB's Band Instrument Repair & Music School and began offering instrument cleaning, brass and woodwind instrument repairs, part replacements, dent removals, polishing and custom work.

Diving deeper

Browne said the biggest benefit of learning to play at a young age is the discipline he’s able to observe in his students. He said trumpet playing requires a lot of endurance as well as continuous practice.

Browne also said there aren’t any other shops in the area that walk you through repairs, which makes his business popular. Additionally, he said he wants every customer to leave knowing a little more than when they arrived.

“Whenever people come to the shop, I like to show them what I’m actually going to do,” Browne said.