Like so many other exponents of light music, Lionel Falkman had a classical training. His parents made sacrifices so that he could study the violin under Leopold Auer and Kalman Ronay , and at the age of seventeen he was musician enough to be first violin in the New Symphony Orchestra under Landon Ronald and first violin in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
His Apache Band specialises in the music typical of the Montmartre of happier days.