There's nothing like it.

There's no other instrument that I know of that produces the sound of the bagpipes.

My name is Glen Adams and I am the Pipe Major for the Palmetto Pipes and Drums.

We are the only traditional pipes and drums band in the Midlands area.

Palmetto Pipes and Drums was founded by Billy DuBose and other pipers in the area, around 1996, I believe and started in his kitchen and grew from there.

and, over the years Palmetto Pipes and Drums has been privileged to be able to play at churches around the area, every year and help them with their traditional Kirkin services, where they are able to celebrate their heritage and their culture that came over from Scotland.

At this point, Palmetto Pipes and Drums continues to support that effort, as well as play at other events as requested including concerts, parades and other events that we are requested.

That starts back when I was about 12 years old.

My mother took me to the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games which is a very well-known, for those who follow Highland Games venue.

And I just remember how big everything was and seeing all these bagpipers out on the field playing the same tune and the marches and how really grand that event was.

so I had that memory, planted that seed, and unfortunately I really never had the opportunity to learn the bagpipes until I was 41 years old.

so, when I was 41 that's when I began my journey that I'm still on.

I do have roots in Scotland I've actually been exploring those roots over the last few years.

The Gordon Clan is my affiliation and I've recently had the opportunity to visit some Gordon castles in Scotland and actually play the bagpipes at those castles which was very special to me and very inspirational.

Depending on how much work someone is willing to put into it.

I really don't know anybody who is able to play the bagpipes with confidence and competence in under about two years.

Then from that point, it's a continuous learning process.

I would say the masters of bagpipes are the players who are playing over in Scotland and winning gold medals, and the highest of rankings.

You know, I certainly consider myself still on the journey of learning tunes and learning how to manage the bagpipes.

Sometimes I ask myself why did I choose such a difficult instrument to play?

Because, you know as soon as I think I have it figured out, you know something else comes up that I didn't anticipate in the past.

So it is a very difficult instrument to play and must be one of the most difficult instruments.

Running the band is somewhat complex in terms of fielding the requests for events when they come in.

I have to get commitments from pipers and drummers in order to fulfill those commitments.

But in terms of rehearsals and teaching new students also takes some logistics to accomplish that.

We are a teaching band, we are also a competition band.

But teaching really is our big focus because we always need to have new people coming in to learn how to play the bagpipes and play the drums.

So we schedule those rehearsals on Tuesday nights, Tuesday evenings we teach our chanter students and we teach students at different levels of learning.

And then we get together as a band and rehearse whatever we need to rehearse for our next events that are coming up.

I would say that being able to fulfill these commitments for the community when they need a pipe band they've requested one for churches, for church services, for the Kirkins where they celebrate their Scottish heritage they bring in the tartans.

It's just a fabulous event to participate in.

And being able to bring the pipe band to those churches and help celebrate that heritage with them is very rewarding.

We have the St. Andrews Society and the Burns Society, and they have annual events having the pipes and drums is very much part of what they are looking for and to be able to assist them with that part of their traditions, is very important to the band.

Through the years the band has had a good bit of success on the competition field and that's largely due to the commitment that people are willing to make playing the instrument, the bagpipes and the drums, and to be able to attend rehearsals and come together as a band as one.

And those accomplishments do include the awards at Greenville as well as other venues throughout the year.

I would encourage younger folks to explore their heritage find out more about their family and where they came from.

We are, as I say, a melting pot here in the United States and they may find some ties with Scotland, Ireland.

And keep in mind that the bagpipes are really more of a universal instrument they're, even though they're called the Great Highland Bagpipes, they are played all over the world.

Many countries are represented when the pipers come and play in Glasgow for the World Pipe Band Championships.

Explore your heritage and you may become inspired to learn how to play the bagpipes or the drums.