If the aperture with area A is the start of a pipe and a plane wave is sent into the pipe, the wave passing through the aperture is a progressive plane wave in the absence of reflections, and the usually reflections from the other end of the pipe, whether open or closed, are the sum of waves travelling from one end to the other. (It is possible to have no reflections when the pipe is very long, because of the long time taken for the reflected waves to return, and their attenuation through losses at the pipe wall.) Such reflections and resultant standing waves are very important in the design and operation of musical wind instruments.