JEFFERSON COUNTY —Richard Bryant and Sam Liew really love to sing, but they needed another outlet aside from the choir at in Littleton.
Bryant had sung with a barbershop quartet that the church had years earlier, but said it fell by the wayside. With the help of Liew, the two found seven more men interested in resurrecting the group as a double quartet with Liew directing and singing as a ninth member.
The Heritage Hymns, as they are known, perform about once a month during services for the congregation.
Liew said finding more men to be in the group was the easy part.
“Because we are in the church choir, I recognized that they had pretty decent voices and we could do something,” Liew said. “It’s a diverse group. The common denominator is that we love to sing.”
Getting the group together to rehearse regularly, however, can be slightly more difficult.
The church choir rehearses every Wednesday night and the Hymns started meeting Thursday evenings, but the members are very busy.
Bryant said one of the members works for Lockheed Martin, one is a civil engineer and another is a pharmacologist who travels. Bryant is a retired school principal and has assumed the role of organizer for the Hymns.
Liew is the group’s director and arranger and has arranged both spiritual and secular music.
He said he normally writes for four-part harmonies, but if he’s feeling ambitious he will write six parts. He said it’s a challenge to be in a small singing group and have your own part, but the group is doing well so far.
“We are pretty close as a group and that helps bring out the better part of music,” Liew said. “Music is a language of emotion. If we aren’t in touch with each other the sound doesn’t come out right.”
Liew’s arrangements, he said, range from
Bach to
Bacharach to The Beatles.
In addition to singing at the church, the group is starting to branch out. They have an engagement at a seniors home coming up and they were well-received Nov. 8 at the Columbine Interfaith Concert.
Bryant said the group could get more gigs once they get their initial repertoire more solid, and Liew added that staying busy will immensely help the group.
“It’s a good thing. It keeps us on our toes, keeps our voices in tune and it’s quite rewarding,” Liew said.
The Heritage United Methodist Church is led by the Rev. Loren Boyce, who said he was glad to see the group start singing.
He said the congregation has enjoyed hearing them perform at services and thinks they will be a great representation of the church once they are out in the community more.
“I think it’s great anytime we can be present in our community and helping folks wherever they may be,” Boyce said.
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or
