ONEONTA _ If you are near downtown Oneonta on a Tuesday night and hear bagpipes in the breeze, it's not your imagination or someone's loud radio.
The sounds of Scotland really are being played live at the corner of Main and Elm streets.
The Hobart Fire Department Pipes and Drums practices at St. James' Episcopal Church and also hosts classes there for beginner pipers and drummers. The band was founded circa 1990 by Pete Campbell under the sponsorship of the Hobart Fire Department, group organizer Marilyn Nienart said.
"It's a community band. We're kind of loosely structured," Nienart, 56, of Oneonta, said Tuesday during a break from playing in the St. James' parking lot.
The band is a fixture at area parades and county fairs. There are usually about six or seven pipers and about the same number of drummers, Nienart said.
Although the band was formed under the auspices of the Hobart Fire Department, its members come from across the region. One member, George Forsythe, has a summer home in Jefferson but regularly drives from his year-round home in the New York City area, Nienart said.
Nienart said that in addition to band practice, beginner lessons are held twice a month. Bagpipe instructor Maureen Connor of Schenectady and drum instructor Eric MacNeil of Albany come to Oneonta to give classes.
Mike Kenik, 63, of Davenport, is transitioning from the beginner class to the band.
"They claim it's one of the hardest instruments to learn," Kenik said. "I don't know if that's true."
Kenik said the bagpipes are the first instrument he has learned to play. He said it takes a lot of concentration to keep the bag full of air, play the tune and march.
Kenik said he can't explain his affinity for the instrument.
"I just love the music," he said.
For many of the pipers, playing the bagpipes was something they had always wanted to do.
Susan Blanchard said she is Irish on her mother's side of the family and part Scottish on her father's side.
"It's addicting," Blanchard, 57, of Oneonta, said.
Blanchard, who has been playing since 2004, said it can be difficult sometimes, but it's worth it when you find the "sweet spot."
Beginning pipers practice on chanters, which are the melody pipes where the notes are played with the fingers, for at least a year before moving up to the actual instrument, said Sara Evenson, 21, of Canajoharie.
Evenson, a senior at Hartwick College, began playing during her freshman year at college.
At first, the lessons were challenging, she said.
"But then something clicked," Evenson said.
Evenson said there are usually two reactions when people learn she is a bagpiper.
"They either say That's awesome,' or they say, Why would you do such a thing,'" Evenson said.
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