Question

1. How does the musical pipe make a sound?

2. How does the musical pipe make sounds?
3. How does the musical pipe make the sound?
--------------------------------------
Can we use all the expressions?
What is the difference between 'a sound' and 'sounds'? Does a sound mean one sound? Or is 'a sound' in generic use? Is 'sounds' in generic use as well?

Answer 1

I’d use 1 and 2, but not 3 (unless it’s referring to a particular note).

“A sound” seems to be referring to one musical note, while “sounds” refers to multiple notes, perhaps even a whole song.