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About Ethan
About Ethan
Ethan Hicks is a performer and educator devoted to the clarinet for nearly twenty years. Growing up in the Metro Detroit area, they came to view music as a necessity to life, instead of an additive. Most of their earliest memories revolve around singing, whistling, and humming throughout their home, building ear training skills before ever holding an instrument. That sense of child-like wonder is what Ethan views as a central pillar for learning music in all ages.
Carrying that unapologetic passion for learning into their teaching, Ethan encourages students of all levels to enjoy exploring music rather than looking to purely control their technique. One of their core teaching philosophies is that musicians should be given the space to discover new techniques, styles, and experiences without fear of failure. They abide by the belief that students grow exponentially when developing enjoyment for the learning process, as well as tools for self-reflection, instead of being solely pushed to master techniques for a passing grade.
As an educator, Ethan’s has worked with over 200+ middle school, high school, and college students from ages 8 to 85 through lessons, clinics, masterclasses, concerts, and more.
They are an avid supporter of the public school system, collaborating since 2014 with numerous high school marching bands, concert bands, festival preparations, solo and ensemble events, and more to this date. In 2020, they began working with Zoom for virtual lessons and have since utilized their own studio Discord server for students and parents looking to learn without having to travel.
As a performer, Ethan not only possesses decades of solo experience, but with chamber music as well, performing with duos, trios, woodwind quintets, and reed quintets, as well as clarinet choirs. They are a founding member of the AoE Reed Trio and the Trillium Wind Quintet, and their interest in contemporary music has also led them to perform in new music ensembles, as well as commissioning new works for clarinet and saxophone duo. As a band leader, they led and performed with three Balkan-Klezmer groups for many years, touring through the US and developing a love for styles outside the Western classical and romantic tradition. They are also a member of the International Clarinet Association, always looking for new clarinetists to collaborate with.
Ethan is a self-taught pianist, performing weekly livestreams on Twitch and YouTube in which they take song requests from listeners. Their work with social media has been a focal point of their performance as well, expanding consistently over the course of their collegiate studies. They regularly publish clarinet and piano content on Instagram and TikTok, working to reach listeners in their homes just as much as in the recital hall.
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