Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, "Music is the universal language of mankind." It's a truism that has held since humans first expressed rhythm with sticks and hollow logs, and it may be that the vocalizing of the first simple tunes helped to develop language itself. Music is felt at such a deeply emotional level that it resonates within our beings and universally transcends all other communication. Even when we don't understand each other's languages or philosophies or social conventions, we can connect through music. It can make us cry and laugh and ponder like no other experience. It's powerful and magical, and everyone feels its influence, but few can skillfully conjure it, develop it, and fashion it into the experiences that so deeply affect our existence.

Dan Locklair is one such conjurer. He's a composer of wide renown, his music performed from England, Germany, and France to Japan, Finland, Russia, and Denmark, to name just a sampling. He's written for symphony orchestra, ballet, organ, and opera, as well as for chamber, choral, and vocal performances.

Anyone who acquires his recordings will know that he's an avid pipe smoker; he is far from shy about it. On his recording covers, he's almost always pictured with a pipe. "I just don't back away from the fact that I enjoy the pipe, and that's who I am," he says. "That's what I do. It annoys me that there was a whole section in the Wall Street Journal's Saturday edition about all these gifts like liquor and other things, but not one hint of anything pertaining to smoking. Tobacco is every bit as intricate to create as an alcoholic beverage by a winemaker or a whisky maker, yet we have to somehow hide tobacco. I just like to be very forthright, and if someone doesn't like my pipe, that's not my problem."

On his recording covers, he's almost always pictured with a pipe

Unapologetic Pipe Smoker

One might think he's taken some criticism for that policy, but he remembers only a couple of examples. "For one review of a recording it was pointed out that the front cover of it was me with a pipe. The reviewer said, 'shame on the record label for having a person with a nicotine delivery device pictured.' He loved the recording, gave it a wonderful review, but he just had to get in that jab about 'a nicotine delivery device,' which showed far more about him than it did me. There may have been others, but I just make no apologies about pipes being a passion of mine. I don't remember ever seeing Pablo Casals [famous Spanish cellist and conductor] apologize for his pipe. And he got along pretty well."

Dan says that he wishes more people were open about their smoking. "David Hockney, the artist," he says, "is an adamant smoker and just loves smoking. He's taken out billboards defending it, and Whoopi Goldberg has been unapologetic [though she has now quit]. These people just basically say, 'this is what I do. It's who I am. If you don't like it, that's just fine.' It isn't something that you have to be angry about with anyone; just get over it."

As Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and as a performer and composer for myriad non-stop commissions throughout his career, Dan's life is busy. Most important to him are his wife Paula, their dog Darby, his pipes, and of course, his music. Music has been essential to his existence since he was a boy.

"I had a wonderful childhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was an only child in a very caring and loving environment, and I just feel fortunate about that. My dad was a telephone installer. He worked for what became Southern Bell, and my mother was a homemaker, an honorable profession. There was no music with my parents; they were not musicians. But I had an uncle, Wriston Locklair, who had been the music critic for the Charlotte Observer before moving to New York City."

Unwavering Enthusiasm for Music

Music interested Dan from about the time he was six when he convinced his parents to purchase a piano. "That was a big investment for them." He started piano lessons and also started playing the trombone in public school. "Those forces, the piano and the trombone, and being raised in a church where there was a pipe organ and a graded choir program, had a big influence. I was involved in the choir and just loved the pipe organ."

After a few years of piano instruction, he began studying the organ, an instrument that would become supremely important to him. It was obvious that he had a passion for music; there was no doubt about what he wanted to do with his life and that music would be its defining characteristic.

... he began studying the organ, an instrument that would become supremely important to him

From junior high school through his early high school years, he was part of a rock band. "But it was not really where I wanted to be. Obviously, it was exciting to be in the pop realm for just that short time." But his interests were in a different direction. He had also been a professional church organist from the time he was 14, and when it was time for college, he majored in music with the organ as his primary instrument, and he started composing.

He wanted to move to New York City after that. He'd been accepted at Eastman School of Music for his master's degree, but he instead attended the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, another very competitive and prestigious school. He would later attend Eastman for his doctorate.

New York was attractive to Dan for a couple of reasons. He was composing music, and New York had lots of options for exposing himself to a variety of concerts. Also, his uncle Wriston was there. "Wriston wrote for the Herald Tribune as a critic when he first moved to New York. Then he wrote for Musical America and Opera News, and later worked at Juilliard. When I was a kid, I would climb up to my grandmother's attic, which is where Wriston's study had been before he moved, and I heard some of my first Aaron Copland, for instance, and Handel, Tchaikovsky, and other recordings at a very young age. Wriston had been such an important person in my life and to be able to go to New York where he lived, where we could go to concerts together, and also where I could go to a very prestigious school that would really prepare me for a career, that was to my liking."

Advanced Education and Career

Dan accepted a position in Binghamton, New York, after receiving his master's degree in 1973. "I wanted a place where I could develop as a composer. Since I was an organist, keenly interested in organ music and choral music, and had been conducting a good deal, I took a post as organist and choirmaster at the First Presbyterian Church, and a second job at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, where I was an instructor of the organ."

From his new location, he could visit New York City frequently. "Wriston would invite me to concerts, and I heard so many extraordinary concerts thanks to him. It was only a four-hour bus ride to New York City." He spent nine years in Binghamton and finally concluded that he wanted to teach at the college level, for which a doctorate degree was necessary. He was accepted at both Juilliard and Eastman but settled on Eastman in Rochester.

He was accepted at both Juilliard and Eastman

Dan immediately excelled at Eastman and had earned the privilege of needing only one year of residency. He had aced all of the entrance exams and remedial work and was able to immediately attend doctoral seminars. "Every Monday morning, every week, I was on a 5:00 a.m. bus to Rochester." He stayed in a hotel through Wednesday and then returned to Binghamton to do his church music work. "I did my doctorate and finished with my dissertation, a big orchestral piece, in two years flat. I was exhausted at the end of it, but I figured if I was going to do it, I'd just do it."

His first big international break as a composer came in 1981. He was one of the five Kennedy Center Friedheim Award winners and did a concert in Kennedy Center. "That was very important; it was my first international broadcast and was transmitted over both Voice of America and NPR. Then right around that same time, Samuel Adler, a distinguished American composer who I worked with at Eastman, said, 'You really ought to check out Wake Forest. That post is open down there.'"

Dan has been at Wake Forest ever since. "If you find a place that you're compatible with, you tend to stay. It's been 40 years, and that doesn't seem long."

About a month after taking his post at Wake Forest, in September of 1982, Dan met the woman he would later marry: Paula. "We were introduced by two mutual friends. My opera was being performed in Charlotte that December. I took Paula to see and hear it and to meet my parents. We were married the next July. By coming to Wake Forest, I gained a position and gained a wife. I'm happy to say that both relationships continue with great delight."

It was early in his teaching career in 1984 when Dan lost his beloved uncle Wriston. "What an incredible person he was. He had so much influence on so many careers, in his work at Julliard, because he just loved everyone. Loved the students. Even the maintenance people just thought the world of him, and he had such journalistic skills. He was a brilliant critic. I was having my first recording made, an LP. Remember those things? It was an all-Locklair recording that was to be made on a Monday. Paula and I had gone up to New York to see some concerts, and we were meeting Wriston for a concert at the Philharmonic one night. We were to have dinner at the apartment of a friend, a musician, who knew Wriston and me. We waited for Wriston to come; he was always very punctual. He didn't come. He had a sudden heart attack on the subway platform on his way to meet us."

Dan has taught many students and written an impressive portfolio of music since that first LP. For those unfamiliar with his work, he has a couple of recommendations. "I think, overall, a wider range of people respond to orchestral music. I suggest the three movements of Symphony No. 2 'America' and the first movement of my Symphony of Seasons (Symphony No. 1). The third movement, Thanksgiving Day, of Symphony No. 2, 'America,' enjoyed extraordinary airplay throughout America on NPR classical music stations this past Thanksgiving." It did the same last year, but even more so this year. "All three movements, though, really resonate with listeners, and the piece is gaining a most gratifying following. Also of possible interest would be the opening movement, Independence Day, or the first movement, Autumn, from my earlier Symphony of Seasons (Symphony No. 1)."

I think, overall, a wider range of people respond to orchestral music

That's a tiny smattering of his compositions, all of them written while smoking his pipes, which he started when he was quite young. "I was always, it seemed, reprimanded for smoking when I was a kid because I just loved it, though even when I smoked cigarettes, I didn't inhale the smoke. I just loved the flavor of tobacco."

While Wriston's influence had helped stimulate Dan's love for music, it was another uncle who had initiated his pipe-smoking journey by giving him a Tom Thumb pipe. Dan immediately wanted to fill it with tobacco, but couldn't, being so young. He tried burning coffee and tea in it, though, because he was so fascinated by smoke. "I started smoking a pipe out in public when I was 16. Yet I had been puffing the pipe whenever I could from much younger than that. I can't even remember when I was not interested in tobacco, and I've never lost that passion. I was simply born loving the flavor of tobacco. Even when I was experimenting with cigarettes, which were much easier to get, and especially to sneak, which I did often and for years, I was always interested in trying different brands." He realized that what he was searching for was more tobacco flavor, and the best way to enjoy that flavor was with pipes.

"I started really experimenting with some higher-end tobaccos and I was just loving mail-order catalogs"

Dan and His Pipes

His next pipe after the Tom Thumb was a Medico Apple, and then he purchased a Sasieni from Michel's in Charlotte. "I didn't realize at the time what an incredible tobacco shop it was. In the front, they had all of these incredible cases filled with Charatans, Dunhills, old Barlings, which again, I didn't realize at the time were so good, and I didn't have the budget anyway." He worked with an associate who smoked a leather-covered pipe, and Dan thought it was especially attractive. "It was the only time in my life I've ever been attracted to leather-covered pipes." He bought two, probably Ropp pipes, and then a Charatan second from Michel's, stamped with the name of the shop. "This was very early on. I still continued to buy drug store pipes. I had some Kaywoodies. I was experimenting with a number of tobaccos, some Aromatics, some OTC blends like Model, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Field and Stream." He especially liked to find sampler packs with a variety of different mixtures.

"I would experiment with all of this. But then Mitch at Michel's introduced me to 0122 by Lane Ltd. It was a blend that the Lane people had told Mitch took all of the high-end Lane Limited tobaccos, the leftovers, and combined them into one. I started really experimenting with some higher-end tobaccos and I was just loving mail-order catalogs. When I went off to undergraduate school, I was on the mailing list of Iwan Ries in Chicago, which had terrific catalogs." He also found catalogs for the Owl Shop in Massachusetts, for Fred Diebel's in Kansas City, Pipe Dreams in Charleston, and Lane Ltd. out of New York.

... it was in Toronto that he met pipe maker Julius Vesz, whose pipes began to rival his Castellos in number

"One of the things about going to New York in the '70s was that the pipe shops were just incredible. It's still mind-boggling to think that Lane Limited's shop, which had been across from Grand Central Station, was just down the street from the Peterson shop. Then you walked up to the corner and there was, if I remember correctly, Pipe and Pouch, a separate, independent shop. Then Wally Frank was down Madison Avenue and a couple of blocks more was Wilkie. Then eventually, the Lane Limited shop also moved up on Madison Avenue. Right in that little area was just an array of quality tobacconists. That was really where I started to flourish in terms of knowledge and experimentation about pipes and tobaccos. But certainly, Michel's, in Charlotte, had been at a very important juncture of my life when I was in high school. Then my interest just continued to grow."

He started trying to collect pipes from every brand, but that ambition proved to be impossible because of the sheer number, but then he became interested in workshops with recognized reputations. "The pipes that really started my passion for collecting were Charatans." He also bought Wilkes, Dunhills, Upshalls, and many others, and he eventually found Castello, which tied into his music career in a happy way.

He started acquiring Castellos from the Pipe Collector's Club of America, run by the late Bob Hamlin, but that interest expanded with his regular trips to Italy to meet with officials of his music publisher, Ricordi. He changed primary publishers in the '90s, but before that, his business trips motivated more pipe acquisitions. "That's when my Castello collection really started to grow and became the larger part of my total pipe array."

He also visited Toronto regularly to visit another of his publishers, Franco Columbo. He'd been to Toronto for vacations, and though he doesn't remember exactly when, it was in Toronto that he met pipe maker Julius Vesz, whose pipes began to rival his Castellos in number. "I've collected an enormous number of Julius' pipes by commissioning him to do new pipes as well as actively buying from his inventory." Because Dan likes to work while clenching a pipe, it's important to him that they be lightweight. Vesz's signature Raindrop shape is particularly well balanced and light, and Dan gravitates to them and to similar pipes by the Canadian maker.

He realized that what he was searching for was more tobacco flavor, and the best way to enjoy that flavor was with pipes

"I tend to smoke Julius' pipes very regularly. I mean, every day, virtually all the time. Julius has become such a dear friend. I just admire his craftsmanship and his pipes. He has very old briar and he crafts pipes beautifully. His Raindrop hangs low and is out of my sightline when I'm composing. I tend to buy pipes by weight. I think 1.4 ounces is really a heavy pipe for me. I mean, that's certainly the maximum. I find that a curved pipe, especially the Raindrop shape, is perfect since I always clench a pipe. When I'm composing, it's so comfortable with a bent pipe."

"My Castello and Vesz collections are pretty close in terms of number. I still have a passion for trying other pipes, especially when I write articles for The Pipe Collector. I did one for a Grecian maker and another for a carver in Norway. I also like Tom Eltang's work, and I've visited his shop. And Peter Heeschen: I really must say that I hold Peter Heeschen very high up in terms of the pipes he made. I have maybe four, but all smoke extremely well."

A Wide Range of Tobaccos

Dan's passion for tobacco continues and has become more focused compared to his early days. Lately, he's been especially enthusiastic about Sutliff's Virginia Slices. "Their 507C Virginia Slices is such a wonderful Virginia; it's a light Virginia that I find is an excellent all-day smoke." Dan says that he's currently aging approximately 40 pounds of it, which is especially easy because it comes in 5-pound blocks.

"I also love so many of the Cornell & Diehl tobaccos; Craig and Patty Tarler were dear friends. I did a lot of tasting for Craig and still to this day smoke Pegasus. I have his Heritage, too, and every time I smoke it I think of Craig. There are a number of flakes that he was starting to experiment with that have continued with great consistency. So I smoke a fair number of Cornell & Diehl blends. I also like Orlik Golden Sliced, especially in a meerschaum. I have a lot of Virginia flakes and smoke those in the evening, and I just love the limited-edition Carolina Red Flake that Cornell & Diehl has been doing the last couple of years."

Dan has immersed himself in the culture of pipes and tobacco as thoroughly as he has in his music. He's truly an ambassador for pipe smoking, and it's common to see him at pipe shows, where his soft-spoken and open nature make him a friend of everyone. "Every day, the world of pipes and tobacco becomes more magical for me. Pipes are daily companions that especially enrich my music composition work, and exploring the fascinating history of pipe smoking is a most rewarding experience. There's magic in smoking itself. The sacred world has incense for a good reason. It conjures mystery and beauty at the same time. Smoking a pipe affects me in much the same way and helps provide inspiration for my creative work. How fortunate we are as pipe smokers! Paula, who is a museum professional and appreciates all objects of history and beauty, loves my pipes and actively encourages the purchase of them. For every Christmas, anniversary, and birthday, she has always presented me with some rare and handsome tobacco jar or other classy items of tobacciana." He's a fortunate and talented man, and those of us who share his passion for pipe smoking are fortunate as well. With someone like Dan Locklair among our ranks, we'll never lack friendship, enthusiasm, or the inspiration provided by some of the most beautiful musical compositions in modern memory, all crafted through an incense of tobacco smoke.