Member Spotlight - Jonny Beeden
| Type of post: | Barbershop news item |
| Sub-type: | No sub-type |
| Posted By: | Phil Gill |
| Status: | Current |
| Date Posted: | Sun, 2 Feb 2025 |
A key component of Hallmark’s success it the pool of hard-working, talented musicians it has at its core. Nobody exemplifies this better than our Assistant Director, Jonny Beeden. So, what lies behind the dedication and ambition that drive this young man to do so much for the chorus?
Jonny’s involvement in barbershop started from a young age. His father had been singing for several years before Jonny was born, having been a member of Hallmark since the mid 1980’s, before going on to direct Sheffield Harmony. Jonny would often go along on a Monday evening to watch their rehearsals. Jonny’s sister sang with Lace City Chorus whose director at the time, Glenn Channey, also directed Major Oak Chorus, and asked on his behalf if he could go along and try singing with them. Thus, at the age of fourteen, Jonny’s barbershop singing career began, and he quickly established himself as a member of Major Oak’s bass section. Whilst there he also had his first experience of directing a chorus.
Then, in 2012, Jonny rekindled the family’s association with Hallmark when he joined Project Horizon as the chorus was on its journey back to success, achieving gold at BABS convention in 2014. Within 3 years, he was back singing with Hallmark on a regular basis, having signed up as a ‘Tuesday’’ member. Around this time, Jonny moved from the bass section to become an accomplished lead, so much so that he went on to join our Music Team as lead section leader. Since then, Jonny’s profile has continued to develop, becoming an increasingly familiar sight out front directing the chorus, culminating in his appointment to the role of Assistant Director in 2024. He has also supported the running of the club as a member of Exec since 2023.
Jonny is well known within the barbershop community, not only because of his chorus activities, but also because of a wealth of quartet experience, including a stint singing tenor with Apollo II, and currently enjoying success as lead with Double Bluff. As though all this singing was not enough, Jonny also plays snooker competitively, alongside pursuing a career as a pre-registration pharmacy technician at local hospitals which also entails studying towards his professional qualification.
All this requires a huge amount of commitment, and Jonny puts his dedicated approach down to his early exposure to high-level coaching and quartet singing for instilling a strong work ethic. He acknowledges that he constantly strives for perfection and is sometimes not fully satisfied with performances, even when they are technically strong. However, he believes that a totally unexpected serious health problem in 2023 gave him a broader, more mature perspective on life, and how his passion for barbershop fits into it all. Returning to singing was not without its challenges, and Jonny is very appreciative of the support he received from his Hallmark friends throughout that journey.
Jonny’s barbershop highlights include not only his many medals won with Hallmark, but also his experience of directing the gold medal-winning Crucible Vocal Project chorus in 2024, something he describes as a surreal and emotional experience. He also emphasises the collaborative nature of the process and the satisfaction of working with a talented group to achieve an exceptional result, despite not having that as the initial goal.
Looking to the future, Jonny has an ambition to lead his current quartet to a Barbershop Harmony Society quartet championship, following in the footsteps of his family members. He also hopes that his role within Hallmark will continue to grow and that at some time in the future he may have the opportunity of taking the chorus to new heights, directing it on the international stage.
