Keeping in Tune
Chad Hearne ’04, director of Student Accounts, has been working in the financial industry for more than 10 years but has a secret dream job of being like renowned artist and UCA alumnus Kris Allen.
“I wish that could be my job, you know, singing all the time, but that’s something I never just took that risk to pursue it,” Hearne said.
Hearne sings tenor in an acappella quartet that annually records an acappella CD in Texas. As the tenor, Hearne brings a high, male vocal range to the group. The other members, all from central Arkansas, include a female soprano, a female alto and a male bass.
They first came together in 2014, but the group remains without a name. The quartet has traveled to different areas in Texas, previously Dallas and Lubbock, for the yearly recording of “Praise & Harmony.” Produced by The Acappella Company, the album serves to teach and preserve singing in four-part harmony. Quartets from across the country audition “to sing congregational style and record it.”
“They find these really nice churches that have big auditoriums and there’s wood, and the acoustics are really good,” Hearne said. “We’re just 150 folks singing in an auditorium, and they have mics set up all around to record it.”
Participation is voluntary, so the quartet travels at their own expense. “It is a hobby, but we are passionate about it,” said Hearne. “We just love to sing, so any opportunity we can get to do that, we will.”
These opportunities include leading worship at his church, where they sing acappella as well. Hearne and the alto in the group are neighbors, so they often provide entertainment for their families and friends that include sing-alongs.
“Acapella is kind of cool now, but in the early 80s it was not,” Hearne said.
Singer, songwriter, composer and producer, Keith Lancaster, is well known for bringing attention to this style of music. In 1982, Lancaster formed and founded “Acapella,” an all-male contemporary Christian acapella group in which he sang lead.
“It’s cool to see how far acapella has come,” Hearne said. “Keith has been to a Pentatonix concert, and even the members of Pentatonix now recognize him when he travels for Acapella.”
Lancaster is now the lead trainer of the Praise & Harmony Workshops. For more information about the Praise & Harmony series, visit praiseandharmony.com