Leonard Vincent Falcone (1899-1985) was born April 5th in Roseto Valfortore, in the province of Foggia in Italy. His parents, Dominico Falcone and Maria Filippa (Finelli) had seven children: Nicholas, Carmen, Leonard, Josephina, Lucietta, Giovannina and Rosina. Leonard Falcone began his musical career in 1908 at the age of nine by playing the alto horn in the prestigious town band (known as the Roseto Valfortore Band or the "Banda Municipale") directed by the famous Donato Donatelli, Neapolitan Bandmaster.

Leonard's brother, Nicholas, was also a member of the band. He emigrated to the United States in 1912 in order to pursue his career in music, and, at the advent of the first World War in 1915, it was decided that Leonard should join him. Narrowly missing the draft, Leonard emigrated in June of 1915 at the age of 16. Nicholas Falcone settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He had initially found work playing the clarinet in a theater while also working as a tailor. On his arrival in Ann Arbor, Leonard became a tailor's assistant, but at this stage his brother was conducting and managing the band for a silent movie theater in Ypsilanti. By the fall Leonard joined the band as trombonist.

In 1917, Leonard enrolled part-time at the School of Music at the University of Michigan. He continued playing in theaters and in 1920 became the manager, conductor, and violinist of Ann Arbor's Arcade Theater. In 1924, Leonard was granted citizenship. He graduated in 1926 with a diploma in violin. During this time, Nicholas had been appointed director of the Varsity Band at the University of Michigan. The Falcone brothers were becoming reputable as musicians and conductors among the Ann Arbor community. The secretary of Michigan State College (now Michigan State University), Herman Halladay, contacted the Treasurer of the University of Michigan, Robert Campbell, and requested his recommendation for Director of Bands at Michigan State. Both brothers were seriously considered for the position, but as Nicholas was settled with a wife and child in Ann Arbor, it was decided that Leonard, the bachelor, should make the transition to East Lansing. In September of 1927, Leonard Falcone became the director of Michigan State College Military Band, which was comprised of 65 members and performed for all occasions: military, concerts, and athletics. In the summer of 1928, Falcone joined the faculty of the National Music Camp, and it was here that he first began playing the baritone (otherwise known as the euphonium). By the fall of 1928, the Michigan State Institute of Music and Arts was established, and Falcone was listed as director of the band and instructor in wind instruments and Italian. Although the MSC football team performed poorly during the 1916-1932 seasons, the band, under the tutelage of its new director, steadily built a strong reputation.

Developing his skill as a baritonist, Falcone performed a baritone solo in the National High School Band Contest in 1929. Here he caught the attention of John Philip Sousa and Dr. Edwin Franko Goldman, both renowned conductors, and he was invited by the latter to join the prestigious Goldman Band in New York. Although Falcone did not leave his commitments at the college, he spent the summer of 1930 in New York in order to play with the band. Unfortunately, as he was not a member of the New York Musician's Union, he was unable to perform. During the same year, Falcone reintroduced open-air concert performances to the College. These events proved very popular, and Falcone occasionally gave a solo performance. At the final concert of 1934, the band performed Falcone's arrangement of Picchi's "Fantasie Original" before an audience of some 3,000. The band made 54 public appearances in 1930-1931. Accompanying the Spartan football team to Georgetown University, Washington D.C., the band was given the opportunity to perform on the White House lawn for President Hoover on October 31, 1930. In 1935, Nicholas Falcone was forced to take medical leave for one month from his position as director of the University of Michigan Band. Leonard agreed to take over his brother's responsibilities for this month. Nicholas' treatment became prolonged, and for one year, Falcone maintained full duties as band director for both institutions. With the ever-increasing popularity of the MSC band's open-air concerts, a donation from the graduating class of 1937 of $2,500 made it possible to construct a Band Shell in 1938. In 1941, on Falcone's insistence, MSC hosted the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association's State Festival. The MSC Band performed its first concert in a newly constructed auditorium during the festival, an event that attracted crowds of 5,000. During WWII Falcone opted to enlist into the Army to avoid being drafted mid-term. In 1942 he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and spent eight months as a member of its Air Force Band at Maxwell Field, Alabama. He was later transferred to Stuttgart, Arkansas in order to organize and lead the 388th Air Force Band. Frustrated by his position, Falcone requested a release from his duties, arguing that his role as educator at MSC should certainly be deemed as more valuable to the country than his work in the Army. But although he returned to MSC in the summer of 1943, by September he was called back into service; this time working for a short time at a munitions factory in Ann Arbor. By October 1943, Falcone had fully returned to the college and resumed his duties as director and professor. It was during this period that the Concert Band, due to the depleted numbers of male members, recruited female players, a circumstance which remained unchanged after the war as women became active members in the music department. As women could not be members of the Marching Band, the Concert Band and the Marching Band became separate units in 1946.

On Sunday, December 19, 1948, Leonard married Miss Betty Beryl Cromer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd R. Cromer. A high school teacher, Betty met her husband when she was a graduate student performing in the Concert Band at MSC. They had two daughters: Mary Beryl and Cecilia. In 1953, Falcone celebrated his 25th anniversary as Director of Bands, and the event was marked on January 17, 1951 with a large banquet held in his honor. The Concert Band began a series of successful tours in 1951, most notably the "Cap and Gown" series which commenced in 1954. As the Concert Band rose in reputation, Falcone was eager to bring the same high regard to the Marching Band. This attention soon came with the entrance of MSC into the Big Ten in 1953, and when the college earned a bid to the 1954 Rose Bowl. Sponsored by Oldsmobile, the band embarked on its train journey to California on December 26, 1953. During this five-day trip, the entourage played and paraded through the cities of Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, El Paso and Tucson. After the Rose Bowl performance in Pasadena, the band also performed in Salt Lake City and Pasadena. The band, this time as the Michigan State University Marching Band, went to the Rose Bowl again in 1956; and the game was televised across the nation. Again, the band performed in several cities along the journey: Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Tucson, Dallas, and St. Louis; and, also appeared on CBS's Bob Crosby Show.

In 1955, the centennial year for the university, the Concert Band was honored by Dr. Edwin Franko Goldman as guest conductor of the Centennial Concert on March 6, 1955. Goldman, considered the premier bandmaster in the country, described the Michigan State Band as one of the best in the country. After this event, Falcone invited other prestigious musicians to be guest conductors of his bands.

In 1960, the Band Shell that had been constructed in 1938 was demolished to make way for Ernst Bessey Hall and the adjacent parking ramp. Although reassurances were made that a new open-air venue would be constructed for the Concert Band performances, the plans never came to fruition, and subsequently the attendance for the outdoor concerts diminished as the seasonal performances moved from site to site with no fixed location.

Nevertheless, in 1964 the Marching Band represented the State of Michigan during Michigan Week Activities at the New York World's Fair. In 1965 the band once more represented the state during Lyndon B. Johnson's Inaugural Parade. This year also saw the band's third trip to the Rose Bowl, and although Oldsmobile was now prohibited by Big Ten guidelines from sponsoring the trip, the company did pay for a trip to San Francisco where the band performed a concert in one of the city's parks.

After many years of service as Michigan State University's Director of Bands, in April 1966 Leonard Falcone decided to request for retirement. This retirement took effect July 1, 1967, exactly forty years after his arrival at the institution on July 1, 1927. Falcone saw the campus grow from an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students to 40,000 in 1967. His single 65 piece Military Band developed into four units: the 75 piece Marching Band, the 115 piece Concert Band, the 100 piece Activity Band, and Spartan Brass.

Although Falcone retired as Band Director in 1967, he certainly did not retire from his profession. Throughout his career he had been involved with organizations and in events outside of MSU and as Professor Emeritus, Falcone continued to take on invitations to be a guest conductor, soloist, advisor or adjudicator at innumerable concerts, festivals and contests across the country. He also continued to work as a professor for the MSU Music Department until the early 1970s. Falcone conducted and toured internationally with the Blue Lake Fine Arts International Exchange Program in 1971. And, the Music Camp dedicated its new Band Pavilion to him in 1976.

Notably, Falcone was a prominent baritone artist, one of the few in the country, and was lauded for bringing the previously obscure instrument into the public eye. The artist made numerous solo appearances across the country from 1929 until his later years. During his career, Falcone made three recordings of Baritone Solos with Joseph Evans, MSU pianist: Leonard Falcone and His Baritone, Leonard Falcone - Baritone Volume II and Leonard Falcone - Baritone Horn. Falcone also collaborated with the First Division Band Course Co. with the publication of The Leonard V. Falcone Baritone Solo Series and The Leonard V. Falcone Trombone Solo Series.

Falcone was also a published writer. In 1932 he wrote "How to Choose a Solo for the Baritone" for the Educational Music Journal; and, went to publish nine more articles on bands and band instruments which appeared in the School Musician, Instrumentalist and the Music Educators Journal. He also worked on transcribing and arranging music for band, particularly the works of Italian composers at the request of his publisher Neil Kjos. (For list of publications and arrangements see p. 183-183, 198, Welch).

Falcone was strongly affiliated with various other professional organizations such as the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Kappa Kappa Psi, the American Bandmaster's Association, the College Band Directors National Association, and the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association.

In recognition of these endeavors, in 1977, A. Thad Hegerberg (MSU Band President 1963-1964) became involved in a project to request that the university present Falcone with an Honorary Degree. Although this award is usually reserved for figures not affiliated with the university, Hegerberg, among many others, argued that Falcone's tireless duties outside MSU and as Professor Emeritus should easily entitle him to consideration. The degree would mark 50 years of Falcone's involvement with MSU, and in March 1978, Falcone was awarded the degree of "Doctor of Fine Arts."

In June 1985, still professionally active at 86, Falcone arranged to tour his native province in Italy with the "Falcone Alumni Band", a group which had been recently formed by some of his former students. However, on May 2, just before embarking on the trip, Leonard Falcone died of natural causes. The tour was continued in his honor. It is Leonard Falcone's arrangement of the MSU Fight Song that is still being used today.