A bagpipe is a musical instrument. The player blows air into a bag, then squeezes the bag so the air is forced out through pipes and makes a sound. You hear it especially in Scotland — at parades, highland games, and funerals — though actually similar instruments exist in other places too, and people sometimes talk as if only Scotland had them. One pipe plays the tune; other pipes hold a long steady note underneath. In everyday English, people usually say the bagpipes (plural) even when they mean one instrument. Bagpipe in the singular is still used, especially before another noun: bagpipe music, a bagpipe player.