CEDAR FALLS -- The mournful tone is impossible to ignore.

A couple walking their dog along Fifth Street stop and listen. Even the honey-colored puppy is captivated by rich, unique melody of Ross Schupbach's bagpipes.

Schupbach began playing the traditional Scottish instrument three years ago. While living in Grand Junction, Colo., he and his wife enrolled in a Scottish dance class. He was just starting to learn more about Celtic music when a piper played for their class.

The very un-Scottish Schupbach was fascinated.

"I thought it was interesting, so unusual and obscure," he says. "But it's surprising how many people play the bagpipes. There's a whole culture behind it. … The pipes go hand in hand with Scottish culture."

More than a musical note

In Northeast Iowa, the Hawkeye Area Grand Gaelic Isles Society maintains a fresh appeal to the ancient instrument. Founded in Cedar Rapids in 1991, the nonprofit organization provides a forum for people of all descents to learn about Scottish culture, including food and music.

The organization will have its annual All Things Scottish Celtic Festival October 11 in Cedar Rapids.

The Society's senior piper, Craig Hazelbaker, moved from Montana to Iowa City in the '70s to teach the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders. Now 50, Hazelbaker has played the Great Highland Bagpipes since he was 15.

"It's an icon of history, of Celtic culture," he says. "All of their struggles are embodied in the music."

Historians believe the bagpipes were originally played in Eastern culture and eventually migrated west. For centuries, Scots used the bagpipes to send soldiers into battle. In 1746, the English passed a decree making the playing of the pipes punishable by death. The Scots ignored the order and continued to play the instrument that has been known to be audible up to six miles away.

Mastering the instrument

Learning the bagpipes is difficult. Schupbach had to play a practice chanter for an entire year before he bought a full set of bagpipes. The practice chanter looks like a recorder, and is used to perfect fingering techniques.

Unlike the guitar, learning the fingering for bagpipes is not easily self-taught. Schupbach says without an instructor, a bagpiper may learn improper techniques that will later have to be unlearned.

Hazelbaker has taught the bagpipes for almost 30 years to an estimated 200 students. The bagpipes are not difficult to learn, but are difficult to play well, he says.

"A lot of people think the bagpipes are like a large wooden kazooo with a table cloth wrapped around it. They know it makes noise and that they're Scottish. But that doesn't work any better than playing the piano with your elbows," he explains.

The fingering techniques require vigilant practicing. Hazelbaker says when proper fingering techniques are used, a beginner can then move on to a set of bagpipes and learn proper breathing technique.

"It's not like blowing a truck tire with your lips, but it's more like putting three clarinets and an oboe into your mouth at same the time, since you're pushing four reeds. It feels stiff, but not unconquerable."

Because of this intense learning curve, Hazelbaker estimates for every 100 practice chanters purchased, one might lead to the purchase of bagpipes. That is usually an $800-$2,000 investment.

Schupbach says the challenge is what compelled him to improve his playing.

"For me, (the practice chanter) was more of an incentive to keep going," Schupbach says. "I was motivated, but you have to be. The bagpipes take a lot of patience."

A tapestry of sound

Though there are only nine notes the bagpipes can produce, the music is elaborate.

Hazelbaker says the classical form of bagpiping, called Piobaireachd {M3(insert pronunciation), is considered by music historians to be Scotland's most significant contribution to art.

"Piobaireachd is a complex set of ornamentation," he says. "The total effect is very hypnotic."

Because of it's complexity, this classical style is hard to translate to sheet music. So piobaireachd was passed along by a unique language called Canntaireachd, an oral tradition of teaching.

Hazelbaker and Schupbach may have different experiences with the bagpipes, but both agree that the music's complexity compels them to constantly hone their skills.

"A well tuned pipe is an acoustic miracle," Hazelbaker says.