loss of the clan chief's power and patronage and widespread emigration did contribute to its decline. It was soon realised that Highlanders made excellent troops and a number of regiments were raised from the Highlands over the second half of the eighteenth century. Although the early history of pipers within these regiments is not well documented, there is evidence that these regiments had pipers at an early stage and there are numerous accounts of pipers playing into battle during the 19th century, a practice which continued into World War I when it was abandoned after the early battles, due to the high casualty rate. The custom was revived by the 51st Highland Division for their assault on the enemy lines at the start of the Second Battle of El Alamein on 23 October 1943. Each attacking company was led by a piper, playing tunes that would allow other units to recognise which Highland regiment they belonged to. Although the attack was successful, losses among the pipers were high, and they were not used in combat again during the war. Bill Millin, the personal piper of Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, was at the landing of 1st Special Service Brigade at Sword Beach on 6 June 1944 in Normandy. At Lovat's request he marched up and down the beach playing his pipes under fire. The Calgary Highlanders had company pipers play during the unit's first battle in Normandy in July 1944, but likewise refrained from using pipers again for the rest of the war. A final use of the pipes in combat was in 1967 during the Aden Emergency, when 1st Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were led into the rebel-held Crater district by their pipe major playing the regimental marches. Design The Great Highland bagpipe is classified as a woodwind instrument, like the bassoon, oboe, and clarinet. Although it is further classified as a double-reed instrument, the reeds are all closed inside the wooden "stocks", instead of being played directly by mouth as most other woodwinds are. The Great Highland bagpipe actually has four reeds: the chanter reed (double), two tenor drone reeds (single), and one bass drone reed (single). A modern set has a bag, a chanter, a blowpipe, two tenor drones, and one bass drone. The scale of the chanter is in Mixolydian mode, which has a flattened seventh scale degree. It has a range from one