Blaine Morrison apologizes as he takes out his teeth and picks up his bagpipes.

"I can't play with my teeth in," the 80-year-old Crescent Township man says with a toothless grin.

He has been playing the Highland bagpipes for about 50 years, and even mouth cancer surgery in 2004 couldn't stop him. But he did have to learn how to play in a different way, and that means taking out his teeth first.

Most bagpipers use their teeth when they play, he says, but Blaine has found a way around it, and plays just fine. More importantly, he says, is that he has big lungs.

His lung capacity recently was tested when he went to the doctor's for a check up.

"I got 99 out of 100. Hardly anyone gets 99, and they don't give anyone 100," he says.

Those large lungs got a good workout late last month as Morrison marched in the Coraopolis Memorial Day Parade as a 50-year member of the local Masons, playing the bagpipes for the crowd as he does every year.

This year though, he says, he was smart and didn't walk the entire parade route, waiting in the shade and then joining with other Masons as they marched by.

But, the annual parade is not the only time he plays the bagpipes. He keeps up his skills and lung power by practicing a little every day. His cheeks puff out as he demonstrates his talents, playing Amazing Grace and Highland Cathedral against the backdrop of a lush green hillside in his backyard.

As he plays, he is dressed in traditional Scottish garb. His socks climb up to his knees and end with red tassels, and he wears a black jacket featuring little silver buttons. His hat features a red feather, and a bow tie adorns his neck.

Hidden in his pocket is a knife called a sgian dubh. Under his arm is the "bag" of the bagpipe, covered in a velvet green material that he says is just a cosmetic effect.

And, of course, no bagpiper's outfit would be complete without the tartan kilt flanked with a piper bag.

Morrison had worn a kilt borrowed from the first band he joined, the White Heather Pipe and Drums Band of Ambridge. He had always wanted his own, but kilts are very expensive.

So, his family pooled their resources and surprised him at Christmas one year. Joan, his wife, slyly took his measurements and had the kilt custom made in and shipped from Scotland.

Morrison's bagpipes cost about $800 about 50 years ago, and now are probably worth about $2,000, he says. His son, Robert, also of Crescent, has three sets of bagpipes. One is worth $4,000.

His daughter, Kathy Horvath of Crescent, used to play, but she now teaches competitive Highland dancing to a group of students called the Celtic Spirits.

He goes on to explain the different parts and jobs of the pipe like the "groans" and the "reeds" and the chanter.

"It's comical when people first learn to play," Morrison says with another chuckle. "They end up wrestling with the damn thing.

"Bagpipers have to memorize all their music, because there's no place to put it."

And, when they play their songs, if people aren't used to the bagpipe's sound, it might not end up to be their favorite instrument.

"My son-in-law says it sounds like a cat in a blender," Morrison says.

Regardless, Morrison has continued to play the pipes for more than half his life in a few different bands, in churches (particularly New Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, for weddings, Scottish festival piping competitions (but he doesn't compete) and even at a dog show.

Morrison has lived in Crescent most of his life and is a retired P&LE Railroad telegrapher. He also worked in radio and television and studied engineering at Geneva College.

He started his musical career in high school, when he played the trumpet.

When he went into the Navy, he played a coronet his grandfather gave him and played in band.

As a member of the VFW, he once was a member of a band that won the state championship in Philadelphia.

Then, one summer as he was enjoying the festivities with his wife at Ambridge Nationality Days, he stopped at the White Heather Pipe and Drums band booth and decided to sign up to learn how to play the bagpipes.

He knew nothing about the bagpipes at that time and had never even heard one played.

He found out that bagpipes were around everywhere and still are today. Players can even earn college scholarships.

He recently has began to share his skills with others, especially Justin Jeffress, a Cornell student who plays in the school band. Morrison says Justin wants to earn enough money to buy his own Highland pipes, and he is hoping to perhaps play the instrument in his school band.

"That would make Cornell very unique," Morrison says. "The only other one in the area to have a bagpipe is in Brentwood."