2018 International Chorus Champions

New England Voices in Harmony – A women’s championship a cappella chorus

Lynn Gresock, baritone

Member Spotlight

Lynn Gresock’s entire life has had music threaded in it, and it has culminated in a fierce devotion to the chorus and our singing. She always remembers her third grade teacher who had students sing a song to close out each day. “Sing your way home, for wherever you roam, it will brighten your road, it will lighten your load.” This could be her motto, and she still finds it true today.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, she says that “although the calendar said it was the ‘70s, we grew up in the ‘50s.” Many weekends were spent doing farm-like activities with family plus a fair amount of singing in the car as they drove back and forth from the city to rural Warwick, MA or to Quincy, MA to visit relatives. She points out that her family, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and especially her three sisters were a “huge part” of her growing up.

Her parents, Bev and Dave Shepardson, are both retired and living in Warwick. When Lynn was in elementary school, she says she “begged” her parents to let her learn to play the violin. “Elementary school orchestra leaders are the saints of the music world,” she says. She persisted, eventually making Massachusetts All- State level, and played in the pit for some musicals in high school. She also plays the piano and the guitar and wrote songs in college, and even in the more recent past. Lynn sang in choirs and choruses in church and in school all the time growing up. She and her sisters sang along with records of musicals and, like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, “put on musical plays in our backyard.”

“Our high school music teacher was one of those who taught about life as well as music, and was great at fostering a love of music in a broad range of people who might not otherwise have been singers,” Lynn points out.  She was a strong singer with good scores at Western Massachusetts District level but didn’t solo much.  “I was never one to put myself forward,” she explains. Sadly, when she got to college, the choirs were for music majors, and Lynn sang infrequently.

Lynn attended UMass Amherst and received a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (Environmental Design) and has been working for more than 37 years as a project manager/environmental consultant at various companies. “My job is more than full-time, involving a network of issues and people on multiple projects, each under its particular time crunch and involving many personalities,” she explains. “I am often community-facing, which can be challenging, as no matter what new project I am presenting, no community seems to like change,” she adds.

Lynn and her husband Larry, who have been married for 35 years, recently moved to New Hampshire. They have two grown children, Meg, 30, who lives in Shirley, MA and James, 28, currently living in Champaign, IL with his significant other. They all lead very busy lives, and she notes that it was “a great joy” to be with all three of them for a long weekend this past October.

She discovered NEVIH through longtime member Maureen Panetta, meeting her at Trinity Chapel in Shirley, MA. Lynn was singing in the church choir at the time, mostly soprano. Lynn says that with her family, and job and life, “I always felt I was way too busy.” That changed when she went on a business trip to Savannah with one of her clients, and they went to dinner. He was talking about golf and his boat and then asked, “What do you do for fun?” She realized that apart from being an avid and constant reader, her answer was “pretty much nothing.” That spurred her to realize that her children weren’t going to be little forever, and she needed to add things that she enjoys into her life.

Fortunately for us, NEVIH was having a holiday membership promotion and for whatever reason she says, “I was whisked into the baritone section.” The rest, as they say, is history. She has served as Baritone Section Leader for quite a while now, and in the past has served as Member at Large, Vice President of Membership, and as Executive Vice President. She is in her second term as President dealing with aplomb what has been a very stressful time for the chorus. She points out that she is glad “that we are finally at the point of careful in-person singing so we can have the opportunity to hear ourselves making those harmonies again.”

And where does she see the chorus heading?  She explains eloquently: “We will continue to strive to improve; excellent singing delivered with real emotion in order to touch the hearts of our listeners… we want to continue to combine our joyful work of singing together with a sense of connection and community. Providing support for each other has been important through the pandemic, and is always important, as we all navigate the difficulties life throws our way. I think that the pandemic has made us appreciate in new ways the awesome things we have the ability to do when we work together. And music does so many powerful things to help each of us for the better.”  Indeed, music runs in her veins.

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