PHILADELPHIA – David Falcone, a La Salle professor of psychology, was an unknown voice in the world of music until a recent CD pushed him into the public eye.
“It is amazing that there is so much incredible music and so many great voices out there, even in the house next door, that most people will never get the chance to appreciate because they never play publicly,” he said.
Falcone himself didn’t share his music until three and a half years ago when friends heard him playing at home and persuaded him to perform.
Until then his wife and two children were his only audience for a long time. “When my two children were young, I would read a bedtime story, light a candle in the window and then play the guitar for hours to put them to sleep. It was good practice,” Falcone said.
He considers himself a fingerstyle acoustic guitarist/vocalist. His music has been influenced in style and technique by artists such as John Fahey, Leo Kottke, John Renbourn and Pierre Bensusan. Falcone has written over 40 pieces. His original compositions reflect a unique synthesis of Celtic, traditional, and jazz sounds and forms.
“My style is difficult to describe. It is not blues, jazz, country or folk, but a combination of many sounds,” he said.
Falcone’s interest in music began when he tried to take guitar lessons in the first grade, but stopped when his teacher told him he was too immature. His brother, however, played guitar so there was always music in the Falcone house in Steelton, Pa.
Picking up the instrument from his brother, he began to play the summer before starting college. “I would go to the beach with friends to meet girls, but ended up playing the guitar while they hooked up around the campfire,” he said with a smile.
He played a little in college at coffeehouses, but mostly in the privacy of his own home. When he arrived in Kentucky for graduate school in 1976, he was introduced to Celtic music, which he describes as “singing the blues while smiling.”
Looking back at his first open mike performance in Philadelphia at the Tin Angel in March of 1995, Falcone remembers his mouth going dry and his hands locking. “It is very nerve-wracking when you perform, but each time you do, it gets a little better,” he said.
Falcone now performs regularly at numerous area coffeehouses including La Tazza D’Art in Manayunk, in Mt. Laurel at Ebenezer’s Olde World Coffeehouse, in Ambler at Biddles Café, in Wayne at the Gryphon Café, in Haddonfield at Café Seattle and at various Barnes & Noble locations.
His first CD “Secrets of Sherwood” was recorded at Longview Studios in Philadelphia and released in mid-August. Jackie Murphy of the June Rich Band, who he met through a friend while performing during an open mike night, helped convince him that it was time for him to record.
“Recording the CD was an incredibly satisfying project,” he said.
Outside the music world, Falcone is known at La Salle for quality teaching and research in topics like artificial intelligence, and studies on dating behaviors. He has also been chairman of the Psychology department for ten years.
“My sense is that the education system is really the last opportunity our culture has for critical thinking and self-repair. It is the last place to affect change in a world constantly trying to maintain the status quo. Being a teacher puts me in the trenches of bringing about that change,” he said.
With his teaching, research, music, and family responsibilities, he keeps on his toes trying to juggle everything. “I don’t have a lot of free time, but my music energizes me to do the routine stuff,” he said.
Falcone lives in Mount Airy with his wife and two children.