The musical instrument known as a bag-pipe consists of a reeded chanter with holes for the performer's fingers to make the melody, one or more reeded drones to provide a continuous harmony, and a bag containing a supply of air.

Ancient Egypt in 1000 B.C. provides the earliest known example of the double reeded pipe. There is a Chinese tradition stating the discovery of a reeded pipe in B.C. 2585 by the Prime Minister to the Emperor Hoang-Ty. Even ancient Peruvian art has given us illustrations of the bagpipes.