Meet the Stanton’s Team – Ben H. Wednesday, August 19, 2015
We’ve written before on the Stanton’s blog about our knowledgeable staff. Now, we’d like to give you a chance to get to know our staff on a more personal level. Over the next several months, we will be having members of the Stanton’s team take our “30 Questions in 60 Seconds” questionnaire. We hope you will get to know the “real” us, and learn how we might better be of service to you!
Ben Huntoon is the Jazz Education Consultant at Stanton’s Sheet Music. He received bachelors and masters degrees in music from Capital University and The Ohio State University respectively. As a professional trumpeter, Ben is accomplished in a wide variety of genres and has performed throughout the Midwest on many stages over the past 30 years. He also teaches trumpet, coaches brass ensembles and serves on the jazz faculty at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.
- What department do you work in at Stanton’s? – I work in the instrumental department. You know, the guys in the white hats.
- What do you consider your specialties here? – All things jazz.
- How long have you been working at Stanton’s? – Twenty-three years
- What is your favorite task at Stanton’s? – Working with customers face to face and preaching the gospel of jazz
- What is your hometown? – Galesburg, Illinois… Home of poet Carl Sanburg and the location of the great Lincoln-Douglas debates.
- Where did you go to college? – Capital University, Bachelor of Music Education; The Ohio State University, Master of Arts
- What is your major instrument? – Trumpet
- Where or with whom do you currently perform/teach? – Adjunct faculty at Otterbein University. Active freelance musician in Central Ohio and throughout the Midwest.
- What do you like to do in your spare time? – Cook, garden, read and practice trumpet.
- What days of the week can you be reached at Stanton’s? – Monday-Wednesday & Friday-Saturday.
- What is the last song/piece you listened to? – Beehive from “Lee Morgan, Live at the Lighthouse”
- What is the last song/piece you played/sang? – I Love You by Cole Porter
- If you had a chance to perform with three musicians, living or dead, who would it be? – Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Horace Silver
- What is your most memorable musical moment? – Many moments, but one that comes to mind is improvising Amazing Grace on solo trumpet for a cathedral full of congregants in Dresden, Germany
- If you could be instantly proficient on an additional instrument, what would you choose? – Piano
- What is the most unusual performance you have ever been a part of? – Dressed in a floor length cape, wearing a cavalier’s hat with a feather and playing trumpet fanfares with a friend for the opening of a department store in a mall.
- What musical sound or noise do you love? – My daughter, a professional USAF musician, playing oboe.
- What musical sound or noise do you hate? – In the Mood makes me break out in hives!
- If you had your choice watching a great concert tonight or performing in a great concert tonight which would you choose and why? – Performing in a magical musical moment is like the ultimate drug.
- If heaven exists, when you arrive at the Pearly Gates, what heavenly ensemble would you like to be assigned to? – Playing with the angel Gabriel, of course! Isn’t that where all of the trumpet players hang out?
- What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? – National Park ranger
- What profession would you not like to do? – Sanitation worker. Those people have my ultimate respect.
- On a scale of 1-10, how funny do you think you are? – Funny “ha-ha” or funny strange???
- Who was your first crush? – My 8th grade science teacher, Miss Fox. Need I say more?
- Is there anything you wish would come back into fashion? – Elephant bells and platform shoes. I was stylin’ in the 70s.
- Do you love or hate roller coasters? – Love
- If you were a super hero, what powers would you have? – Split solid matter using the sound waves from a triple high C.
- How many pairs of shoes do you own? – Too many for a guy
- Would you rather win the lottery or work at the perfect job? – Winning the lottery would buy me time.
- If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? – Legumes
