Blop #1 by Amber Jamison

Amber Jamison - Blop #1

All of my conscious life I’ve been involved in theatre of some sort. When I was about 5 I played my first role (something like ‘Mouse #3) in a production of Thumbelina as part of an annual summer festival which used to be hosted at SHSU. When I was a little older I’d travel to Conroe to be part of Community Theater there along with my sister, and when we were ten and fourteen respectively we were accepted into an agency in Houston for a short time. High School brought dozens more performance opportunities. I was a part of every after school production, sixteen total including three musicals, in some capacity or another, competing in UIL One-Act all four years and taking office in Thespian Society the last two.

            But then there was this thing called choir. See, while I had been in theatre for so long I’d also been singing (and occasionally dancing, but that’s another blop) and had gotten rather good at it. After four years of Huntsville Children’s Choir I had decided to “take a break from singing” altogether during my freshman year of High School. It was so unnecessary, after all. I intended to focus solely on theatre from then on.

            It didn’t work.

            What I realized was that I needed music as much if not more than theatre, so come scheduling time, I hesitantly signed up for choir. In short, over the next three years God blessed me in unimaginable ways through that decision. I met incredible people from around the state, worked with some wonderful directors both in school and at TMEA and through them realized I was being called into music.

            When it became apparent that I would be attending SHSU as a music major I thought that was the end of my time on stage beyond choral or solo work. Oh buddy was I wrong. My sophomore year I heard that opera workshop was doing Amahl and the Night Visitors for their Christmas production. Long story short I auditioned and was cast as Amahl. I was back on stage and really surprised at how little opera differed from my previous experiences.

            Point is, you don’t have to stop Thespian-ing it up when you become a music major, in fact it is highly suggested you keep it up! Don’t think if you become a music major you’ll never take blocking notes or move set ever again. You can and you will, you just might be singing in a different language when you do it. :)

---Amber Jamison, soprano and member of SHSU Opera Workshop

(Pictured below is the author as Cherubino in SHSU Opera's Summer Production of Le nozze di Figaro)