Knowledge,
passion and the ability to bring out the best in her singers have earned Lucy
Thayer a lifetime achievement award.
Thayer, director of choral activities and professor
of music at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point received the Morris D. Hayes
Lifetime Achievement Award at the Wisconsin
Choral Directors Association conference in January.
She is the first from UW-Stevens Point to
be awarded for outstanding service to choral music in the state.
Carole Dahle,
director of choral activities at Hudson Middle School, Hudson, nominated
Thayer.
They
served on the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association Board
together for several years. Thayer organized conventions and Singspiel, and was a pleasure to work
with, Dahle said.
“What a joy! She listened, she communicated, she
encouraged others to get involved,” Dahle said in her nomination. “Her creative
ideas were endless, her laughter was infectious, and she brought the best out
of everyone.”
With
high energy and equally high expectations, Thayer has taught an estimated 4,000
singers and future choral directors since joining UW-Stevens Point in 1996. She
teaches choral conducting, methods and choral literature. She directs the
UW-Stevens Point Concert Choir and Choral Union, and for many years conducted
the Women’s Choir. For the last 15 years, she also has conducted the Wausau
Lyric Choir, an auditioned adult community choir.
“She doesn't simply teach and wave her arms; she creates and
inspires,” said Cullen Sutherland, who studied with Thayer at UW-Stevens Point
before graduating in December with a bachelor’s of
music in voice performance and choral music education.
He was in her Concert Choir, including
tours to Puerto Rico in January 2011 and Italy in March 2014, and a semester
abroad she led to London. “Even as a senior member of the Concert Choir, I was learning
something new each day,” he said. “She challenges her students
to always work toward improvement, even after (seemingly) mastering a task,
vocal passage or conducting pattern.”
Thayer
is well like and respected by her students, said Molly Vechart, who graduated
from UW-Stevens Point in December and teaches music in Valders. “She taught me
that I should never accept anything less than the best from my choir. I
should always push them to dive deeper into the music and to sing with their
heart.
“She
has been such an inspiration to me. Her passion for choral directing is infectious,”
Vechart said. “She recognizes what it takes to encourage a choir to create the
best music possible.”
Dahle said she’s gotten to know many
choral directors across the state in her 39 years as Hudson’s choral director.
“I can tell you without reservation, that Lucy is one of the best.”
Thayer began directing a church choir as an
undergraduate student in Massachusetts more than 40 years ago. Prior to joining
UW-Stevens Point, Thayer directed or taught music at Mary Baldwin College,
Staunton, Va., UW-Madison, University of Central Florida and Smith College,
Northampton, Mass. Her
choirs have been selected to perform at their conventions and internationally.
“Her passion for great literature, her unending
desire to connect with students, her drive for excellence, and a never-failing
desire to help anyone in any way she can, seem to be what Lucy Thayer is all
about,” Dahle said.
“I’m
just so lucky that my profession is my passion,” Thayer said.
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