Eric Landau told himself that as soon as he retired, he would learn how to play the bagpipes.

“What the hell are you waiting to retire for?” were the words spoken to him by his friend, Irene O’Kane, the only female sworn police officer piper in the New York City Transit Police Warpipes and Drums in 1995.

That year, like most years, Landau was enjoying the festivities of the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York and watching O’Kane and the rest of the service members play their bagpipes and drums. Landau thought to himself, “These guys all have rotating shifts and still found a way to do it.”

O’Kane’s words that day were the start of Landau’s 27-year journey as a piper for two fire departments, six police departments and a storied career with the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS).

A need for reed

Landau’s interest in music began as a 10-year-old playing the clarinet in the fourth grade. His interest carried through high school, playing as first chair clarinetist as a senior and receiving an invitation to perform in the New York All-State Orchestra at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Landau earned a music performance scholarship to Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., where he played in the university marching band, concert band and orchestra.

Prior to moving to Fountain Hills in 1998, Landau worked in sales for two-way radio in Manhattan. At work, he often looked down onto the city’s hustle and bustle from his office on the second floor. But on St. Patrick’s Day, Landau couldn’t help himself.

“I would play hooky on St. Patrick’s Day, go over to Fifth Avenue and watch the parade,” Landau said. “I just loved listening to the pipe bands as they’d march up the avenue.”

Little did he know that he would be marching down the very same avenue a few years later.

Amazing Grace

After serving in the American Legion pipe band in New York, Landau moved to Fountain Hills where he enrolled in the Arizona DPS as a civilian reserve and was recruited as a piper for six Valley police departments, including Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). Landau soon after founded his business, Bagpipes of Amazing Grace, which offered for-hire bagpiping service to the public including weddings, funerals, graduations and birthdays.

Landau played more than once for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Fountain Hills, the Relay for Life fundraiser held at Fountain Park and other local events. Throughout his time as a pipe major, Landau provided music for numerous Arizona Law Enforcement Academy graduation ceremonies and led the Mesa Fire Department Honor Guard Pipes and Drums for 10 years.

“I had a whole closet full of various uniforms,” Landau said.

Usually, it takes roughly a year for pipe students to play something that might charitably be called music, Landau said. It took him only six months to attain that level of mastery.

“I was very assiduous about it,” he said, adding that he would play at minimum 45 minutes per day, five to six days a week, a schedule he later urged his pipe students to emulate.

During his time as a piper, Landau played at numerous memorial events, droned in the start of annual golf tournaments and even twice played at a Costco warehouse to attract shoppers to a promotional table selling Scotch single-malt whiskies, he wrote in a story for the Arizona Highway Patrolman.

One of Landau’s highest callings, however, was providing comfort to the bereaved.

“Even in the midst of such melancholy there is a kind of joy for me each time I am able to have a role in what we pipers and drummers create together to honor a fallen hero,” he said. “It’s the most solemn obligation of a bagpiper.”

In December of last year, Landau officially retired and hung up his pipes for good. In May, Landau was honored by the Arizona DPS for his 22 years of service to the agency.

In one of his last performances as a piper, Landau played at West Point in New York for the funeral of an old friend, John Donovan. As a parting gift, Landau gifted his bagpipes to Donovan’s son, Tom.

“Bagpiping is a ministry,” Landau said, echoing words spoken to him by a former DPS officer. “Tom’s going to be taking lessons in Virginia this year.”