About

Ethan Jacobsen
Composer & Educator

From a young age, Ethan Jacobsen has been immersed in music. Ethan’s father played drums in a local jazz band and his siblings all sang, played piano, and performed in musicals. At the age of 3, Ethan began taking tap dance lessons. Soon he was acting and singing on stage. When he was 9 years old, his parents bought a trumpet at a garage sale and he began taking lessons. Over the years, he has performed as a dancer, a lead in musicals, and a trumpet player with many groups. These experiences helped Ethan explore various musical genres, including jazz, classical, funk, pop, folk, rock, and many other contemporary styles. 

Ethan pursued trumpet performance at Brigham Young University before shifting focus to Commercial Music and Film Scoring. Influenced by his background and the music of Max Richter, Alexandre Desplat, and Beirut, Ethan crafts compositions that blend emotional depth with cinematic quality. Ethan's accomplishments in composition include scoring the music for the short film The Architect (2015) and the documentary Honorably Released (2016).

As an educator, Ethan teaches middle and high school students in Northern California, where he teaches band, piano, music technology, musical theater, and music appreciation. Ethan has developed a curriculum for music technology and has also created courses for teaching foreign languages and English as a second language. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commercial Music and Film Scoring from BYU, a Music Teaching Credential and a Master of Arts in Teaching from SDSU, and a Master of Music in Music Technology – Film Music Technology Emphasis from Southern Utah University.

Beyond the classroom, Ethan performs regularly with bands, choirs, and orchestras. He also teaches private trumpet lessons and has worked as a brass coach for multiple high schools. Ethan and his wife have 4 children and live in Northern California where they enjoy spending time outside together and making food from scratch.