The gift of vocal chords strong enough to sing opera, where the performer has to take on a character while simultaneously singing some of the highest and lowest notes possible for the human vocal, combined with the dedication to dedicate hours a day to perfect this gift is rare. Yet it can be found in the choir room of Stillwater Area High School, where senior Libby Lambert calls her second home.

It is not easy having the gift of song; three to four years ago everything changed for Libby when she was diagnosed with severe asthma that has caused chronic bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis limits her vocal ability and restricts her breathing, making singing difficult. With college auditions coming soon, Libby is focused on not letting chronic bronchitis knock her out.

“My whole family has a very musical background,” Libby said, taking off her bright green coat only to reveal an even brighter blue top. “Music has traveled from generation to generation. We all go back to music my parents both sang to me when I was little. They always loved singing throughout their lives, all through college and then to me. I guess their influence really just, I don’t know, brought that out in me. I guess that’s how I found out that I had a good voice.”

Although opera may not be her favorite genre to sing, it is where her voice has found its niche.

“Opera has never been my favorite genre of music, but the thing is, I can do it,” she said with her permanent smile. “It’s probably one of the things I do the best at. I guess it’s difficult to keep my voice nice, because it gets really tired if I sing opera too much. A lot of the time, I’m just too tired to sing. I’ve had to learn how to manage how much I sing.”

For Libby, experimentation with her vocals is what she works for. She wishes to continue experimenting with different genres in college. Only before college, auditions.

“I’ve been trying out for music scholarships,” Libby said with a mix of nerves and excitement in her voice. “Fingers crossed I get them! I would love to continue music my whole life, so the next step is college. I want to take on challenges, like I would never major in opera but if I were to be given the opportunity to be in an opera, and someone would be willing to take me under their belt and go through training, I would definitely take on that challenge.”

The audition process, while difficult for all, posses a unique hurdle for Libby. According to Sing Wise, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory infections, “may impair support by decreasing lung volume and respiratory efficiency. Even mild obstructive lung disease can impair support enough to result in increased neck and tongue muscle tension and abusive voice use capable of producing vocal nodules.”

“Asthma and chronic bronchitis makes it extremely difficult,” said Libby, the smile fading from her face. “Breathing is very hard for me at times, especially this time of year and sometimes I really just have to focus a lot of my attention on what I’m doing at one moment, so I’m not constantly thinking ‘oh my gosh I can’t breathe!’ I have to prepare, usually days in advance just to make sure that I’m strong enough. I don’t like to use that as a crutch, it definitely tries to hold me back, but I have medication that helps.”

Although Libby continues to fight it, if chronic bronchitis limits her from a singing career she always has composing, thanks to synesthesia. Synesthesia is a “a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sense (e.g., taste) produces experiences in a totally different sense (e.g., sight)” according to National Public Radio. For Libby, when she hears a pitch or sound, her brain elicits a visual stimulation, a color, simultaneously.

“I never knew it was a thing, I could go on forever about this, I’ll try not to talk too much,” Libby said with her smile coming back full-force. “I just thought that everybody color-coded everything. I have perfect pitch in that if you asked me to sing an A I could do it and anytime I do hear a note, like if I hear an A I would see the color yellow or orange because I don’t know, I associate notes with colors! It gradually goes up the scale, it looks like a rainbow to me.”

Synesthesia, while initially a strange sensation, has opened doors for Libby into the composing world.

“I guess it has helped me with my composing a lot, cause when you have synesthesia you have extra sensory activity going on and you’re able to build bridges with composing or with other topics in general. Having it has helped me to write music and I have dreams about creating notes and images about music, so that’s been really helpful. I’ve been thinking about seriously going into writing music, but I still have no clue what I want to do with my life yet! If I major in music, just in general, for my undergrad I would then consider if I wanted to go to grad school for composing. If I were to compose I would stick to a more low-key vibe, I like to play piano while I sing, I would probably stick with very acoustic, very low-key.”

From the full out performers to the casual listeners, the composers to the car-seat-belters, music is an important form of expression and entertainment. For Libby it is so much more. It is the way she thinks, lives and breathes everyday. And being able to breathe sure does help.