If you were a piper as short as 30 years ago, the frustration level in playing would have been much higher. It was difficult to keep the pipes in tune for very long because of the fickleness of cane drone reeds. Today's synthetic drone reeds make life as a piper much less a headache. Because of their increased steadiness, even a grade 4 pipe band can sound comparatively fantastic today. If you were to watch "The Drum" or "Wee Willy Winkie", you'd think the pipers were tone deaf.