Primarily a church musician, Ethan is particularly keen that music in the church is of as high a quality as in the concert hall. To that end, he writes finely-crafted choral works geared toward church choirs at a variety of skill levels. He particularly values the qualities of folk music-simple melodies that have stood the test of time. He studied composition at the University of Tennessee in his hometown of Chattanooga, USA, conducting at the University of
Cambridge, UK, and organ in the US and Germany.