Entry 1

My name is Ben Marquardt. I am a Music Education major, and I am one of the assistant directors of the U W Oshkosh Pep Band in the 2009-2010 season. My primary instrument is euphonium, which no one ever knows what it is (it is a small tuba basically). I can also play trumpet, tuba, French horn, flute, clarinet, bassoon, and percussion along with being able to sing. I am in the University Choir this year, along with the Symphonic Band (on trumpet), and the university Wind Ensemble (on euphonium), and I am also in the University Hand bell Choir. In the Wind Ensemble I am the principle Euphonium player. I am also on the executive board this year for Rainbow Alliance for H.O.P.E where I have taken the position of co-programming coordinator. Some of my favorite movies are August Rush, Coraline, Dragonball Evolution, X-Men, V for Vendetta, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Finding Nemo, Cars, and The Incredibles, among others. I like cheesecake, which means that The Cheesecake Factory is one of my favorite restaurants. Another of my favorite restaurants is Red Lobster. I love their grilled salmon, and their mudslides are to die for. I went to high school at Campbellsport High School. The music program at that school was really bad, I never realized it until I came to college and began to study music that I realized how bad it really was. Euphonium is my favorite instrument to listen to with French horn being a close second. I also really enjoy listening to oboe, bassoon, flutes, clarinets, bass clarinets, trumpets, and tubas. Pretty much the only instrument I don’t like to listen to is saxophone. I don’t really know why but I find the tone to be airy and scratchy. The saxophone is good in certain places, like jazz, but in classical repertoire, places where saxophone fits are few and far between. Maybe one reason for not liking saxophones is because there are always so many of them, its like everyone wants to play saxophone rather than an instrument that actually needs more players, like euphonium or French horn or tuba. Gustav Holst is one of my favorite composers. In his music he likes to give beautiful solos to euphonium players all the time, and this semester in Wind Ensemble I get to play 2 of them. My favorite color is blue with red as a close second. I like to wear red more than blue because I look better in red but I still like to wear blue, I look pretty good in orange too.
My technological skills are minimal. I know how to use a computer for what is absolutely necessary and not much else. I can use Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint efficiently, but I don't really know how to use excel or publisher much at all. Other than that I don’t really know anything about technology, much less actually using it in my classroom.