8 minute read
Faith in Every Note
A CATHOLIC FILM COMPOSER DETAILS HIS ROAD FROM MUSIC LESSONS TO WRITING FILM SCORES FOR MAJOR MOTION
BY ANNIE LUST
The trajectory of Sean Beeson’s life can be traced back to a 100-yearold upright piano. Sean’s greatgrandmother was a Catholic organist for most of her life. After she died, her Brinkerhoff piano needed a new home. When no one else in the extended family claimed it, Sean’s parents offered it to him. Sean’s immediate family appreciated music, but no one played instruments. Still, he had already displayed musical promise with limited means—by the age of 9, Sean would return from Mass to play the hymns he’d heard on his Casio keyboard by ear.
When Sean received the upright piano at 11, his parents enrolled him in music lessons with Linda Burkett, the Music Director in their hometown parish, Most Pure Heart of Mary in Shelby. “She was very influential in my interest in music,” Sean remarked. Linda encouraged her students to play liturgical music, which became the foundation of Sean’s musical knowledge.
After sixth grade, the Beesons moved to nearby New Washington and became parishioners of St. Bernard Parish. When his mother asked him to play music in church while she sang as cantor, he agreed. “Like a good son, I couldn’t say no,” Sean said.
“Compared to piano lessons, playing in front of people is completely different,” he explained. It inspired Sean to move beyond playing what was written. He began to improvise and write his own music. When he was 15, Sean’s parents took him to a small recording studio. “That experience made me fall in love with music and technology,” Sean said.
A shared love for music was part of what drew Sean and Laura together. She was a cantor who sang while her mother played the piano. “We joke that I swapped my mom as my singer to my girlfriend, now wife, as my singer,” Sean laughed. Both of their mothers were happy to relinquish their duties, and Laura became the voice to accompany Sean’s music.
When Sean graduated college with a degree in music composition, he was certain that he did not want to be a traditional composer. “I had an interest in video games and film. I wanted to work in media, and I heard the same thing over and over,” Sean continued, “You have to move to Los Angeles.” It was 2006, and the music industry did not have the global range it does today. Working remotely was still in its infancy, so Sean took the advice and moved. It quickly became apparent that it was not the right fit for his future. He moved back to Ohio, discouraged but still determined to be successful.
Sean and Laura married, and Sean began working on anything and everything. “I created software for composers to use, I did sound effects…I dabbled in a little bit of everything from ringtones to a ballet for BalletMet Columbus,” Sean said. He was not an overnight success, but one job led to another and another. It supported their growing family as Laura, who first worked as a cosmetologist, became a stay-athome mom, a dream of hers.
No matter what work they were doing or where they were living, music ministry was a constant in their lives. “It’s been a huge part of my life, my Catholicism, and our marriage, this love for music and for music ministry,” Sean explained. At every parish they’ve been a part of, you could find Sean at the piano with Laura at his side, singing soprano.
Over the years, Laura would nudge Sean to find work in Catholic media. Sean recalled saying, “I would love to work on Catholic media projects, if they existed.” Laura was undeterred: “Many times over the years, I would bring it up,” Laura said. Finally, Sean said he would do the Catholic media projects if Laura found them. She found Spirit Juice Studios, a new studio whose purpose was elevating Catholic evangelization through powerful visuals and masterful storytelling. It was the break into Catholic media that Laura knew was possible for Sean. He worked on projects with Spirit Juice Studios, and was introduced to other Catholic media professionals, like Word on Fire, Knights of Columbus, and Castletown Media. Slowly, Sean began building an impressive resume in Catholic media.
In 2019, a short film about the unseen miracle of the Mass called "The Veil Removed" began trending on social media. “We’ll have people tell us about it sometimes,” Laura said with a smile.
What they don’t realize when recommending the film is that Sean composed the film score. “It was the first project that people around here knew about,” Laura explained.
On projects like "The Veil Removed", Sean receives a “rough cut” of the film and then has a discussion with the director and producer about the points in the film where mood, tone and emotions should change. Sean explained, “They’ll say things like, ‘At this point in the film, the mood should be darker.’” Based on that conversation, “I sit down to watch the video with a midi controller [a piano that communicates with a computer] and just start to play what I hear in my head.” Modern music composition looks very different from what people usually imagine. A quick peek into Sean’s studio, bright colors dancing across computer screens and keyboards lining the walls, emphasizes that point. “People imagine me sitting in front of a piano scribbling on pieces of paper,” Sean said with a laugh. “Fifty percent of what I do is musical, and fifty percent of what I do is technical. I’m a composer, but I also have to be a programmer.”
While the mechanics of composing the music for a Catholic film are the same, it’s an entirely different internal process for Sean. When working on secular projects, “the mindset is often: How can I make this as grand, spectacular and attention-grabbing as possible?” Sean noted. “What is most important in Catholic media is the mission. It’s not about me, it’s not about the music. It’s about the message. Catholic media requires a certain level of humility. I say, Lord, Your Will be done in the music.”
This was never more evident for Sean than when he worked on the project he is most proud of — "Mother Teresa: No Greater Love", which was released in theaters across the United States in 2022 with resounding success. “Musically, it is not my most advanced score. It’s not even my most beautiful score. It’s very simple,” Sean said. In other words, the message of Mother Teresa’s remarkable work and the impact both she and her Missionaries of Charity have had on the people they have served throughout the world are at the forefront. The music is a humble background element, and it reflects her work and her life's mission, which is a success in Sean’s estimation.
In the years since, Sean has continued to work on Catholic projects with Hallow, Word on Fire, The Knights of Columbus and Spirit Juice. “I'd love for Catholic media to be the only thing I am doing in the future, if that’s possible,” Sean said. Even if it’s not possible, the foundation of Sean’s music was first laid when he started playing liturgical music and has continued through involvement in Catholic music ministry during his life. “Playing music for Masses formed a lot of my musical experience. So when I’m asked to compose something, that’s what I’m pulling from,” he said. There are times when the sacred is subtly behind his music, and occasions when it might be obvious, like the Google ringtone that’s a recording of altar bells ringing from St. Bernard's Catholic Church in New Washington. Sean summed it up, saying, “Not everything I do is Catholic at this point, but I’m Catholic in everything that I do.”
See Sean's work
Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story (2024)Feature Film
Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist (2024)Feature Film
Mother Teresa: No Greater Love (2023)Feature Film
Wonder (2023)Word on Fire Series
The Veil Removed (2019)Short Film
