Bugle call (original) (raw)

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Short military tune or signal

A French Marine plays the bugle during the Gulf War, in March 1991.

A bugle call is a short tune, originating as a military signal announcing scheduled and certain non-scheduled events on a military installation, battlefield, or ship. Historically, bugles, drums, and other loud musical instruments were used for clear communication in the noise and confusion of a battlefield. Naval bugle calls were also used to command the crew of many warships (signaling between ships being by flaghoist, semaphore, signal lamp or other means).

A defining feature of a bugle call is that it consists only of notes from a single overtone series. This is in fact a requirement if it is to be playable on a bugle or equivalently on a trumpet without moving the valves. (If a bandsman plays calls on a trumpet, for example, one particular key may be favored or even prescribed, such as: all calls to be played with the first valve down.)

Bugle calls typically indicated the change in daily routines of camp. Every duty around camp had its own bugle call, and since cavalry had horses to look after, they heard twice as many signals as regular infantry. "Boots and Saddles" was the most imperative of these signals and could be sounded without warning at any time of day or night, signaling the men to equip themselves and their mounts immediately. Bugle calls also relayed commanders' orders on the battlefield, signaling the troops to Go Forward, To the Left, To the Right, About, Rally on the Chief, Trot, Gallop, Rise up, Lay down, Commence Firing, Cease Firing, Disperse, and other specific actions.[1]

The military use of signal instruments dates to ancient times. The Romans used a form of bugle in their Legions.[2] Records show the use of an early bugle in Hanover by 1758,[3] and the British infantry introduced the Halbmondbläser in 1764.[4] The bugle gained widespread use in horse mounted units, where the more common signals of drums and fifes were impractical. At the 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights, the use of British bugle calls was taken as an insult by United States forces, who mistook them for hunting calls.

The bugle became more common with United States units during the War of 1812.[5] Through the 19th century, the bugle gradually replaced the fife. By the time of the United States Civil War, each company was allotted two buglers.[2]

Military use of bugles waned as new technology provided improved methods of field communication, but bugle calls continue to be used as traditional signals that mark daily events or special ceremonies. United States Army posts, for example, play Reveille at the start of a work day. In addition, the use of bugles and bugle calls is maintained in traditional Drum and bugle corps and some drum corps.

Memorial Stained Glass window, Class of 1934, Royal Military College of Canada showing Officer Cadet playing the Bugle call for Last Post or The Rouse

Norman Lindsay, The trumpet calls, World War I Australian recruitment poster

Call to Quarters score

School Call score

Sick Call score

Swimming Call score

Tattoo score

To the Colors score

Many of the familiar calls have had words made up to fit the tune. For example, the U.S. "Reveille" goes:

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up this morning;

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up,

I can't get 'em up at all!

The corporal's worse than the privates,

The sergeant's worse than the corporals,

Lieutenant's worse than the sergeants,

And the captain's worst of all!

< repeat top six lines >

and the U.S. "Mess Call":

Soupy, soupy, soupy, without a single bean:

Coffee, coffee, coffee, without a speck of cream:

Porky, porky, porky, without a streak of lean.[8]

and the U.S. "Assembly":

There's a soldier in the grass

With a bullet up his ass

Take it out, take it out

Like a good Girl Scout!

and the U.S. "Taps"

Day is done

Gone the sun

From the lake, from the hills, from the sky

All is well, safely rest

God is nigh

Irving Berlin wrote a tune called, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning". In a filmed version of his musical, This Is the Army, he plays a World War I doughboy whose sergeant exhorts him with this variant of words sung to "Reveille": "Ya gotta get up, ya gotta get up, ya gotta get up this morning!" after which Berlin sang the song.

"Taps" has been used frequently in popular media, both sincerely (in connection with actual or depicted death) and humorously (as with a "killed" cartoon character). It is the title of a 1981 movie of the same name.

"First call" is best known for its use in thoroughbred horse racing, where it is also known as the "Call to the Post". It is used to herald (or summon) the arrival of horses onto the track for a race.

Another popular use of the "Mess Call" is a crowd cheer at football or basketball games. The normal tune is played by the band, with a pause to allow the crowd to chant loudly, "Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up! Rah! Rah! Rah!"

Early solid state Bally pinball tables played two bugle calls on their chime units. First Call was used as the game start tune and To the Colors for game over.

  1. ^ Upton, Emory (1867). A New System of Infantry Tactics. pp. (appendix).
  2. ^ a b Keating, Gerald (1993). "Buglers and Bugle Calls in the U.S. Army". Army History (27). U.S. Army Center of Military History: 16–18. JSTOR 26304103. Retrieved 24 Feb 2022.
  3. ^ "An Introductory History of the Bugle From its Early Origins to the Present Day". Taps Bugler. 2019. Retrieved 24 Feb 2022.
  4. ^ "The military bugle". 2021. Retrieved 24 Feb 2022.
  5. ^ Dobney, Jayson Kerr (2004). "Military Music in American and European Traditions". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 24 Feb 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Reveille, Retreat, and Taps" (PDF). Defense Logistics Agency. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  7. ^ "U.S. Army Bands – Bugle calls – Reveille". Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  8. ^ Sperber, Hans (1951). "Bugle Calls". Midwest Folklore. 1 (3). Indiana University Press: 167–170. JSTOR 4317288.