Buglers and trumpeters

[Bass ackwards]

I did a search and found nothing specific about this archaic (and often reviled) occupation, but since it is a subject near and dear to me, I thought I'd take a chance and start a thread on it. Given the proximity of November 11th, hopefully this is the right time for it.
 
I have a few objectives here:
a) How many buglers and/or trumpeters do we have here ?
(for the uninitiated, "trumpeters" refers to the cavalry/horse artillery version of buglers)
I know there are a few - names like "Lone Bugler" are a dead giveaway.

b) Any anecdotes from the above-mentioned group. We do funerals, parades, memorial services, tattoos and, of course, Remembrance Day ceremonies. There are bound to be stories -both amusing and sad- worth hearing.

c) Any references to information on bugle calls. I've personally found this to be a tough subject to research. This would be useful both to those interested in military history and to up-and-coming buglers.

d) Being a long-time US Cavalry buff, I'm equally interested in hearing from our friends south of the border.

 

[muffin]

"Back in the day" I used to play my Grandfather's WWII coronet. I did some rememberance day things in high school etc, but haven't played for years since. I always hated playing in the cold...  and I have walked into more than a few doors practicing marching about in the house.

I have a few min this morning... so I will dig up what I can here...

There are some Civil War Bugle Calls here
http://www.fmaalumni.org/bugle_calls.html

A podcast of some here
http://podcasts.culture.ca/explore/show/2460

Can Infantry Bugle Calls 1902 available for InterLibrary Loan via National Library & Archives
http://amicus.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aaweb-bin/aamain/locations?sessionKey=999999999_142&l=0&v=0&lvl=1&rv=2&itm=31236741&all=1&rsn=S_WWWriaKaguVL&d=2&dt=%22Bugle+calls+Canada%22&spi=-

Buglar and Drummers Manual 1912 also ILL from Nat'l Library
http://amicus.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aaweb-bin/aamain/locations?sessionKey=999999999_142&l=0&v=0&lvl=1&rv=2&itm=31236745&all=1&rsn=S_WWWriaKaguVL&d=2&dt=%22Bugle+calls+Canada%22&spi=-

US Army bugle calls with sound and score
http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/buglecalls/Buglecalls_Service.html

US Army Band site
http://bands.army.mil/music/bugle/

History of the Bugle
http://www.tapsbugler.com/HistoryoftheBugle/HistoryoftheBugleContents.html

http://www.middlehornleader.com/Evolution%20of%20the%20Bugle%20--%20Section%202.htm

Royal Engineer's Bugle Calls
http://www.royalengineers.ca/Bugle.html

King's Royal Regt of NY
http://www.royalengineers.ca/Bugle.html


You may also want to send an email to the RMC Band Master,  WO Sylvain Gagnon (gagnon-sa@rmc.ca), one of the few remaining actual military musician positions left. He might now where to direct you for specific questions.

muffin

 

[Bass ackwards]

Thanks, Muffin. That's quite a pile of digging you did.
The best I could come up with was a "Manual for Trumpets and Bugles" that I first ran into on the Royal Horse Artillery site.
Trying to find an actual copy of same on a place like Amazon or various obscure book sites is another story.
I'll enjoy digging thorough what you sent. Thanks again.
My interest is mainly academic now anyways -my last gig was helping out my nephew's Air Cadet band and that was 11 years ago.

I was lucky: all the Remembrance Day ceremonies I did were in Southern Ontario where it's not (usually) too too cold. I did do one funeral in the middle of winter, though.
That's nerve-wracking. A guy usually only gets one funeral so you seriously don't want to screw it up -and I'm sure you remember how hard it is to nail that first low C on a cold mouthpiece -without having it sound like one big brassy fart...

 

 

[Rifleman62]

I recently read the book listed below. One of the  "interesting sidelights on long-forgotten Service lore and customs" the author writes about is that RAF bugle calls began with the first notes of the RAF March Past in order to distinuish the bugle calls from the Army who were in the same encampment. The bugle calls were the same except the first notes.

Bushby, John. GUNNER'S MOON: A MEMOIR OF THE RAF NIGHT ASSAULT ON GERMANY.
Ian Allan, London, 1972, first edition.
189 pp, 8vo (8 3/4" H), hard cover in dust jacket. B&w photographs. "....tells the story of how the author joined the famous 601 (County of London) Fighter Squadron before the outbreak of war. It offers a fascinating account of life as a 'Saturday afternoon airman' in those days of biplanes and open cockpits and offers some interesting sidelights on long-forgotten Service lore and customs. With his squadron the author served throughout the Battle of Britain at a south-coast airfield and here he records, for the first time, something of the story of the men and women who worked through the bombs and the blitz to keep the Hurricanes and Spitfires flying for 'The Few'. The book graphically recounts the story of almost forty successive operations over Europe as a rear gunner. The author is one of the very few survivors of those who flew the ill-fated Manchester bomber, fore-runner of the Lancaster. He became a Gunnery Leader and was among the earliest crew members to gain the coveted Pathfinder badge. This part of the story conveys what it felt like to operate night after night against heavily defended targets at a time when bomber losses were as high as ten per cent of the attacking force; and when the odds against aircrew survival were assessed as ten to one against. It tells of the human stresses involved and the relationship between crew members in the air and on the ground." 

 

[Bass ackwards]

Oddly enough, I have that book -albeit the pocket edition, which lacks the photographs and the interesting section on service lore and customs. A good read though.

Muffin: I am definitely making good use of the stuff you posted. That Royal Engineers site is excellent, as well as one of the American sites.

 

[Rifleman62]

I have the same pocket edition. I wonder if the 1 Canadian Air Division Band follows this tradition. Upon hearing them in Winnipeg on many occasions, I say no. The Royal Winnipeg Rifles Band has six buglers.

 

[Bass ackwards]

They might do it at Air Force-only functions -like a graduation parade at wherever it is that Air Force people graduate from...(ahem).
I'm not sure.

I do know the Lincoln & Welland Regiment precedes their calls with the first eight notes of their regimental march. I would imagine that's fairly common with infantry units.

 

[Rifleman62]

My pocket book addition is sans photos but has the the interesting section on service lore and customs. I think your book is the same.

 

[Drummy]

Ba

Give this a try    http://www.worldmilitarybands.com/   I have'.t been there for some time now, but I know tha Jack does some good work with this.

All the best   Drummy

edited because I could't spell a freind's name properly.

 

[Bass ackwards]

Drummy: Much obliged for the link. It's looks like a pretty good site at first glance.

Rifleman62: No joy on the section on service lore & customs. I'll have to check for the H/C edition at the local library, it sounds like an interesting read.

 

[BernDawg]

I would have to say that the high point of my bugling career was playing the last post at the Tower of London (several times) and having a pint at the Yeoman Warders club afterwards. 

 

[bender]

I'm a civilian trumpeter that plays with the local regiment bands. I don't have much of a chance to do any actual bugling, because I'm not the bugle major, but oh well. My highlights probably have to be parading in a massed band at BC Place in front of a HUGE crowd.

In regards to the cold, has anyone else ever used a Kelly mouthpiece (made of plastic). I find my tone suffers a bit, but at least it stays relatively warm.

 

[BernDawg]

I've never hear of the Kelly mouthpiece but I sure wish I had one "back in the day".  I once played Last Post at the cenotaph in down town Winnipeg at 0001 Nov 11 and man, was it cold.

 

[Bass ackwards]

The Kelly is a new one on me too. I used to have a fleugelhorn mouthpiece (can't remember what make) that was brass but had a plastic rim. It seemed to work OK ,tone-wise, though I never tried one for a trumpet (and I certainly never showed up at the cenotaph with a fleugelhorn!).
 
Here's a link to a very similar mouthpiece called the GR. It's specifically meant for cold-weather playing.

http://www.fieldtrumpet.com/ColdWeatherMouthpiece.html

 

[bender]

Interesting, I hadn't heard of those. In the Kelly mouthpieces, the whole thing is Lexan. I've played with it about to -10, and it feels like a regular mouthpiece without warming up. I'll have to look into the ones with a plastic rim only. Sure beats freezing your chops to the horn! 

 

[Bass ackwards]

I think it'd be worth your time to check one out, Bender. I don't recall any tone issues with the one I had and, at the time, I was a big time Guido Basso wannabe (so, needless to say, tone would have been a real issue).
I'd look suspiciously at anything made entirely of any sort of plastic for that very reason.

I did the massed band thing a couple of times. One was at the CNE fairgrounds in Toronto. We marched in the old Blue Jays stadium in front of an estimated 40,000 people. You obviously know what that's like!
(AstroTurf is not your friend -if you've never marched on it before)

The best though, was a tattoo at Fort George in Niagara-on-the-lake:
We did that arrangement of the Last Post with the band playing Abide With Me in the background. I was one of two trumpeters out front. The audience had been sitting on the grass listening to the show -until we hit the first notes of the Last Post and suddenly they all got to their feet. Thousands of them.
Stage fright ? What stage fright ? 
That arrangement of Last Post/Abide With Me, is just gorgeous and -if done properly- will bring tears to the eyes of anyone with a proper soul. Friends and relatives in the crowd that night told me we achieved that. It was quite the experience.
I wouldn't want to try it while sober though...

Still..I suspect BernDawg has got us both trumped with the Tower of London ...(dang... )   

 

[bender]

Well that's good to know (wrt to the mouthpiece). I'll have to see if I can get my hands on one before the 11th.

The thing about stadiums and lots of people though, is that they could only hear the pipes! The Tower of London would have been incredible. Something I would love to do would be to play at Ypres/Passchendaele with the fire brigade.

 

[Foxhound]

Sure beats freezing your chops to the horn! 

Geez!  You poor wee buglers.  At least you got to wear gloves while you played in sub-zero temperatures.    Try playing a snare drum at -20F!  (Hall Beach NWT, ’82)  Your hands rapidly become crude clubs, then…  SNAP!  Now ya got nuthin’ to hit!  Just a few scraps of drum skin flappin’ in the breeze.

To tell the truth though, we percussionists got just a little chuckle the odd time when, during a parade held outdoors in cold weather, a horn player’s valve would stick, and you’d get a WREORNK! instead of the B flat or whatever it was that you were expecting. ;D

Best gig ever was the Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo in '81.  Nine shows and we got to work with some very awesome units including the USMC Band.  Posted about it here: http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/24124/post-13732.html#msg13732

 

[bender]

Valves freezing are fun. It's even funnier when I trombone slide freezes  At least are horns don't break like snare drums. I would ask to play the bass drum when it's that cold, just so I can wear the cougar!

And that tattoo story was awesome!

 

[BernDawg]

I've had the good fortune to do both (Bugle and drums) and I can say that Kevlar heads are the Kelly mouthpieces of the snare drum.  Just be careful not to bend the tuning rods or the rim.