When he was in high school, M-11 Jr played "Taps
" for numerous vet funerals in our town. Not all color guards had the capability. It wasn't bugle, but that boy could send chills with that trumpet.

As much as I would prefer a live version, I have to cut them slack for the electronic one. Simply better to have it done that way than not at all. We went to our city's Memorial Day service this year at the Stones River Battlefield Cemetery. They had re-enactors do the 21-gun salute and they had found some teenager to play Taps. The kid looked to be about 14 and he used his trumpet instead of a bugle. He partially fluffed one note near the end but he gave it his all in front of everyone. I was very glad to have it done live and proud that it was performed by someone so young.

We used to "borrow" a high-schooler when I conducted Funeral Honors while stationed in Group Hatteras.

I'm very proud of being able to honor our veterans. It was kinda weird standing tall with a bunch sailors for an Army guy once though...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Maybe I need to volunteer.

That would be a great thing to do, and would surely result in good karma coming your way.

Please let us know if you are able to do this, what with your work schedule, etc.

In fact, I bet that there are other forum members who would be able to do this, as well. What a service, an honor to veterans, this would be!

There is no shortage of need in the Panhandle. I am going to look into this and I will reply with the results.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
4 different notes and 24 notes total.

It still never fails to tug at my heart strings as that final note fades away.

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
4 different notes and 24 notes total.

It still never fails to tug at my heart strings as that final note fades away.

Not a funeral, but...

When I was in High School in Boise, the football schedule was always worked out so that 2 of the 3 HS teams in town (back then - I think there are like 5 of them now) played each other on Veteran's Day weekend, a Saturday afternoon game instead of the usual Friday night. Each HS was fed from 2 Junior HSs. All the band / flag / drill team units from both HSs and the four feeding JHSs collaborated in a special Veteran's Day halftime show. I took part in it all three years I was there. At the end of the show there was a prayer followed by Taps being played by the lead trumpet players from both HSs, followed by a National Guard flyover. The last year I was in it, all the stars aligned and the timing worked out perfectly so that just as the final note of Taps started to fade, you started to hear the F-4's coming. They came over so low that they rattled the fillings in your teeth. To this day I can't think about it without tearing up a little.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
There is no shortage of need in the Panhandle. I am going to look into this and I will reply with the results.

Sigmonkey, thank you from a guy who knows how much is owed to guys like you.

Questions: Do you have a bugle and a uniform that fits? Access to a PX/BX? If not, I may be able to help. I know a guy.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:
I don't know how difficult it is to teach someone to play a passable rendition of taps on a bugle. I played clarinet in elementary school and think I could learn something that would pass in a few months, unless my 60 year old lips wouldn't cooperate.

Bother anyone else that they are deceptive about this?

Either someone volunteers to spend a few months for teaching, learning, and practicing, or tax payers have to pay for it.

When I die I'd rather someone hit play on a recording, than know more of my tax money was wasted on teaching people to play the bugle.

I could certainly play taps on the trombone, but it would take some practice for me to be able to use a trumpet/bugle mouthpiece. There is a big size difference. Playing bugle calls on any brass instrument is not hard. Any moderately competent brass player can do it.

My grandfather who served in the army in WWII died in the winter in the Upper Midwest about a decade ago. There was a blizzard the day of his funeral and we barely made the 60 mile drive. We appreciated the VFW member coming out to the cemetery and was not bothered by the fake bugle as it would've been cruel & unusual punishment to play a real one in those conditions.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:...
Questions: Do you have a bugle and a uniform that fits? Access to a PX/BX? If not, I may be able to help. I know a guy.

I have access to the Eglin Clothing Store to obtain Class-A and I have several horns.

I have a Getzen. 1&3 depressed will render Taps properly, but if I do this, I will purchase a proper bugle.

Sounds like you're set.

If I recall correctly, a bugle does not have any valves--the notes all have to be controlled by the lips. There are also "valveless trumpets" that have the same situation. The instruments without valves are reputedly harder to play.

flashguy

That's correct, flashguy. The notes change based on the player's embouchure, and all notes are in the harmonic overtone series.

Taps is actually harder than it sounds. Unfortunately, I've heard it played poorly more than once.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Approximately 2,000 veterans pass away each day, but there are only a few hundred military buglers available. The electronic bugle is better than the alternative of playing Taps from a portable CD player.

The CD player is what they used when my father passed away in 2003.

quote:

Originally posted by Maestro:
That's correct, flashguy. The notes change based on the player's embouchure, and all notes are in the harmonic overtone series.

Taps is actually harder than it sounds. Unfortunately, I've heard it played poorly more than once.

A great many folks can learn to play Taps in their home very nicely, but when they are out on the hillside facing a crowd of people, they can't remember their own names, or which end of the bugle to blow into.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
If I recall correctly, a bugle does not have any valves--the notes all have to be controlled by the lips. There are also "valveless trumpets" that have the same situation. The instruments without valves are reputedly harder to play.

flashguy

I have played bugle, two valve, three valve and four valve horns as well as slide and marching trombone, trumpet, coronet, flugelhorn, French horn, alto, tenor and baritone.
(middle horns are preferred and best played)

As far as difficulty, there is no difference between valve and no valve, all that does is limit some of the notes one can produce. (lipping up or down a 1/2 tone is done and takes some practice, but the tone color is "off")

The USAF Drum and Bugle Corps, we played 2 valve "G" bugles , and my position was baritone. It only took a few days to transition from the Bb horn to a G bugle.

And, yes, as JALLEN states, I had no trouble playing in public with a band, but solo, and something as important as rendering Taps, I really do not want to mess that up.

So, I will be practicing to beat the band...

And looking into this with much understanding of the responsibility.

In the end, I would forgo doing it poorly, but there is something about the final respect that should be shown, and while my mind understands the "recorded" playing, it does not sit well in my soul.

Thanks to pbslinger for bringing this up, and who encourage those who can do so, to look into this.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
If I recall correctly, a bugle does not have any valves--the notes all have to be controlled by the lips. There are also "valveless trumpets" that have the same situation. The instruments without valves are reputedly harder to play.

flashguy

It isn't true that a valveless instrument is harder to play. A brass instrument player can play many notes with the valves activated in any given combination. A trombone player can play many notes with the slide in any given position. Playing any brass instrument involves changing the way you blow into the horn to change the note you are playing and it involves actuating the valves differently to reach a different set of notes you can play.

A bugle is a trumpet-ish instrument that has no valves, so the only notes you can play on it are the one that you could play on a trumpet with the valves in one particular combination.

All bugle calls are composed of notes that you can play on a bugle (I know that sounds obvious), but what it means is that you can play bugle calls on a trumpet without manipulating the valves at all.

And changing the way you blow the notes is part of the skills any brass instrument players have.

Bugles are easier to play that trumpets in that sense. You don't have to manipulate any valves.

This also means there a notes a bugle simply cannot play. Those notes are not available on that bugle. Valved instruments can play all the notes in the Western scale, within a certain range. That is not true of a bugle.

So, a French horn can play a bugle call (and won't have to use the valves). But a bugle cannot play a Mozart horn concerto.

^^^

Very close to correct, but a few notes...

"Bugle calls" can be played on (most) 3 valved horns by depressing 1&3. This provides to correct key and what notes are sharp and or flat on the scale in that key signature.

Playing all open, will cause you to be in another key signature and the scale will not necessarily facilitate the correct intervals and you will have a note or more off pitch.

Besides the position of the valves or slide, you do have "lipping up or down" and the more skilled you are, the greater a "bend" you can do.

I play blues harp, and several noted are "bent" by drawing them down, and a couple are "blown" down (but a bit harder to master), and you can do a similar thing on a horn to "bend up and down" to some degree.

There are also "alternate" fingerings that make the horn produce a better tone for certain notes, but sometimes those are not taught in school bands, because of speed and technique in those combinations require. But improvisational Jazz and such, they are well suited.

A skilled "bugler" can play a pretty good bit of a Mozart piece and be able to hit alternate notes of extended chords and certainly if you mix key signature bugles, the ensemble can play any concerto.