When Frank Marrone '20 was a Boston College freshman, he sought a means to maintain what he considered two of his primary identities as a high school student: someone committed to service and someone who loved singing.
Then he saw a flyer for auditions for Common Tones of Boston College, a newly formed group dedicated to doing service and performing a cappella music, and thought it would be a perfect fit.
And it has been: Marrone, a Common Tones member for four years, is now president of the 20-member co-ed ensemble.
The Common Tones of Boston College perform off campus at sites such as Rosie's Place.
“What sets Common Tones apart from other a cappella groups on campus is our commitment to service as well as to singing on campus and off campus to people who could really use it to brighten their days, in whatever community setting they happen to be,” said Marrone, a Long Island, NY, native studying in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development.
In March, the group's scheduled performances include Franciscan Children’s Hospital and the Rosie’s Place women’s shelter. They recently appeared at an annual a cappella festival in Arlington, Mass., to benefit the Catherine J. Malatesta Foundation, which is dedicated funding cancer research and supporting cancer patients and their families.
Performances for children can be particularly fun and spontaneous, Marrone noted; for example, they will sing a song requested by one of the young patients.
When Common Tones are finished with the performance at their service locations, they stay and engage with the people in the audience, whether it’s children at Franciscan or women at Rosie’s Place.
“The music is the gateway for us to create and form relationships with the people we are performing for. It’s a starting point for conversations. Creating bonds through music goes to the root of our organization.”
What makes a good a cappella song?
“In my opinion, it’s a song that could be broken up into many different parts. We like to keep our repertoire very diverse, featuring songs from various artists, styles, cultures, and eras.”
Having an array of songs is important when your audience crosses generations, Marrone explains. Marrone, who is a bass, sings solo on Shawn Mendes’ “Lost in Japan” and Elton John’s “Your Song.” Other songs in Common Tones’ repertoire include “Oh, What a Night” by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, “Take Me to Church” by Hozier, and “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars.
Last summer, the group released an album, “Fifteen Seasons,” available through Spotify.
Common Tones also performs at traditional campus venues and events like Arts Fest and the Pops on the Heights pre-show. In the spring semester, they took part in an a cappella show along with the Boston College Acoustics and the Bostonians of BC, and competed in an “A Cappella Riff-Off” with the other BC a cappella groups as part of BC Dance Marathon, a fundraiser for Boston Children’s Hospital. They also performed a song exclusively in Spanish at an Organization of Latin American Affairs event.
Like most of the members of Common Tones, Marrone is not pursuing music as an academic discipline. He is an applied psychology/human development and biology major who is considering a career as a veterinarian working with wildlife. The Common Tones members represent a variety of schools and majors, but the common thread is that they all have a passion for service and a cappella.
“The best part of the service is when the audience is really engaged with us. They’re bopping along to the music as we’re singing, and we get to all smile together,” said Marrone. “It’s not really particularly about the exact technicalities of the piece, but more so the overall energy that we bring.”
Kathleen Sullivan | University Communications | March 2020