The sound is generally more mellow and sweet than that of a true reed pipe. He attempts to mimic the bird's song using a reed pipe, but is unsuccessful. Horns were later added to the reed pipe to increase resonance. These are quite uncommon; see "Free reeds" in the "Reed pipe" article. When Tale was 7 he began to play on the reed pipe (recorder). According to people's belief, nothing can destroy a reed pipe; even fire cannot damage it.