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 led the organization, organizing 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 conducts herself with leadership, determination and good humor, said Molly Vechart, who graduated with top honors from UW-Stevens Point and now uses some of Thayer’s warm-ups and rehearsal strategies as a long-term substitute choir director at Valders High School and Middle School.  “Her best quality is her honesty. 

“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.”

She is well like and respected by her students, Vechart said. “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.”  

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’s willingness to serve music and other people are inspiring, Dahle said. “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.” 

  

Thayer began directing a church choir as an undergraduate student in Massachusetts more than 40 years ago. Prior to joining UW-Stevens Point, Thayer was a choral director or assistant professor of music at Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, Va., UW-Madison, University of Central Florida and at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. 

She is active in national and international choral organizations and has held leadership roles in the state choral directors’ board. Her choirs have been selected to perform at their conventions and internationally. 

Thayer has high expectations of herself and others. “I expect it of myself. I hope my students will see that, and aspire to it as well,” she said. “I’m just so lucky that my profession is my passion.”

She uses different approaches to reach as many students as possible, Sutherland said.  “Her vast knowledge and sheer passion and love for her students are incredibly admirable. I am a more passionate musician and educator because I had her as my mentor.”