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MSU’s Music Man
THE INCOMPARABLE
By Rita Griffin Comstock, ’68
There is no statue outside the music building on the MSU campus, no exhibit
inside its brick walls honoring the genius of the man who taught thousands
of students for 57 years, producing through them some of the best,
if not the best, college concert and marching bands in the nation. But pass
through the heavy oak doors of its West Circle entrance and head down
the corridor on your right to 116 MB, the Director of Bands’ office. If the
door is open—and it often is—you will see a portrait of him hanging on
the west wall. There is no name indicating who he is—no little bronze tag
affixed to the bottom of the frame, no card in a plastic sleeve underneath.
But if you are old enough, you might recognize him anyway. It is Leonard
Falcone, once the “Dean of the Big 10 Band Directors” and forever “The
Father of the MSU Bands.”
Those of us who attended MSU before the 1970s have indelible memories
of Leonard and his band on the gridiron. Remember those crisp
football Saturdays when the sight of the green and white marching machine
kick-stepping onto the field ingrained in us a pride that even after
all these years buoys the spirit Many of us can still hear the echoes of its
majestic, soul stirring sound at pre-games as the “MSU Fight Song” and
“The Star Spangled Banner” swelled and filled the stadium, and picture
Leonard mounting his wooden perch with an aura of high purpose during
the half time shows, and from there summoning massive waves of
musical drama with grand sweeps of his baton.
MSU Alumni Magazine | 27