Trombone holds special place in Jamison's life

Jamison, Chadron State College associate professor and Physical and Life Sciences department chair,

is grateful for the opportunity provided by music faculty members Dr. Sid Shuler and Pam Shuler as part of their new approach to feature community band members in concerts.

“This is my thing,” she said of playing the trombone. “I need that outlet and musical time. It’s not work. It’s not being a mom. It’s not being a wife. It’s like I’m in a different world.”

A Nov. 20 interview with Jamison and Nebraska Public Radio’s Friday Live host Genevieve Randall is available online.

Her interest in music began early thanks to her parents’ encouragement.

Jamison started playing trombone in fifth grade. Her brother, Mike, also took to music. He is a saxophone and jazz professor at Iowa State University.

While attending the University of Iowa from 1993 to 1997, Jamison played trombone in the student band, flying to bowl games three years. Though the travel may sound glamorous, the schedule was grueling. Even home game days involved a 12-hour commitment, forcing Jamison to juggle her jobs and homework.

She also, from time to time, had to juggle her trombone.

“The trombone poses some challenges in marching formations. It takes up a lot of room,” she said, admitting once inadvertently hitting a nearby band member with her instrument. “We did flowers, jets and sharks shapes to accompany music from ‘West Side Story,’ and even did head banging to go with music from ‘Wayne’s World.’ Try that with a trombone.”

Now, when she works in the Advising Center in Crites Hall, Jamison talks to prospective students about the benefits of music.

“I encourage them to be part of the community band. It’s two hours a week and one concert a semester,” Jamison said. “It helps them regain balance and return to their studies refreshed. The University of Iowa Marching Band was 250 of my closest friends and the trombone section of 25 to 27 was my family. I liked the variety of being around students who were not majoring in science.” she said. “Keeping up with classes was hard but it was worth it. Being in the band gave me all kinds of opportunities.”

One of those opportunities was playing the national anthem and Hail to the Chief when President Clinton visited her campus.

Jamison took a hiatus from playing the trombone while pursuing her master’s and doctoral degrees. When she and her husband, Todd, moved to Montana she joined the community band and played for three years before moving to Chadron in 2008.

In 2004, Jamison performed at her alma mater’s homecoming with the Alumni Band, affectionately known as the “Fossil Band.” The group led the homecoming parade Friday, practiced marching formations Saturday before the game, and played the pregame music, including the national anthem.