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Gadgets for the Lazy
theodp writes "The Pentagon has found the perfect way to demonstrate it's purely the thought that counts - 700 bugle emulators which sit in real bugles and play 'Taps' at military funerals. The Ceremonial Bugle is just one item in Wired's collection of Gadgets for the Lazy."
Didn't read TFA, so I don't know if it mentions this, but the Taps-playing device is not for the lazy, but rather because there is a shortage of actual trumpet players for military funerals. A lot of burials are having to resort to using CD players; at least with these gadgets some of the ceremony is retained.
personaly I dump my logs to /dev/toilet
I played trumpet. The bugle is pretty much the same thing, minus the valves. You are thus restricted to a limited set of notes, and must choose your notes by mouth alone.
The restriction isn't anything like "one octave". It's more like "two notes per octave". To get enough notes to make a decent tune out of that, you'll need some extreme range. Building that range can take a long time. Mouth strength doesn't arrive in a matter of days.
There would also be something wrong if the bugle player hadn't gone through basic training. He wouldn't be a real soldier without that gas chamber.
Because of the shortage of available buglers, a group was formed to help aid the military in properly honoring our veterans. If you need their services, or wish to volunteer, go to the website.
I played trombone in high school, and "Taps" is easily played without any valving (or slide, in the case of the trombone) changes. If the mouthpieces are the same, a bugle is just a simple trumpet.
I read somewhere that prior to the invention of the trumpet valves, similar versatility would be achieved by owning multiple bugles or having multiple bugle players, each with a different bugle. Different length of tubing = different notes you can play.
It's my guess that there isn't a shortage of competent players in the country (any high school with a band program should have several) but a shortage of MILITARY bugle players. You don't send the 16-year-old kid with long hair to play taps at the funeral; you want the adult, with short hair and military uniform. This device lets any military-type person play taps.
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.
Right now there are about 1750 military funerals per day across the country. In 2008 it will peak at 2100 per day (if the stats are correct). Most state National Guard HQ's run a Funeral Honors program. Volunteers work 7-10 funerals a day and get a stipend of 50-60$ per day to cover expenses, most of the guys that I know that perform the duty lose money by the time they pay for gas, food, dry cleaning uniforms etc. Severice organizations (VFW, AL etc) also provide the service with unpaid volunteers. Finding any kind of brass players for that many funerals is very difficult, we're not talking small numbers here.
Well, there may be plenty of buglers but they aren't enlisting. It's a good gig: you get E-6 almost right away.
It's a real problem for the modern Army. We're moving away from the Cold War structure of having a different MOS for every imaginable job to moving many jobs over to the civilian side of things. Example: when I was in advanced individual training, a guy in my platoon was reclassing from Stinger operator. His one and only job was to hump a Stinger around with him. In his new line of work (and mine, of course) he drives Bradleys, HMMWVs, does forward recon, calls in fire, and is qualified in the Javelin and at least half a dozen other weapon systems.
Since it's a military funeral, you can't have a civilian do it. Since old veterans die all the time it's a full time job. It seems to me that it's an unavoidable consequence of a necessary change.
And as much as I respect the tradition, if it were my funeral, I'd really rather not gouge the taxpayers to have someone toot my horn.
While I play neither, it is my understanding that a trumpeter cannot simply pick up a bugle and play it (especially well enough to do funeral detail).
Yes, it is obvious you play neither. I played trombone and taught myself some trumpet/french horn/baritone back in the day. One brass instrument is faily similar to another once you learn slide positions/valve combinations and train your lips to fit the different sizes of the mouthpieces. I can play you taps on the trombone, trumpet, bugle, flugelhorn, baritone, tuba, french horn, etc. Taps is the chopsticks of brass instruments.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
When I was at Scott AFB, we had a band on base (which is getting rare, at least in the Air Force.) In the 1.5 years I was on the Honor Guard, the band was only able to send a trumpet player ONCE, out of the over 100 funerals I was in. The only way to meet the demand would be to have at least 6 players assigned to each base for funerals only. That's simply cost-prohibitive.
Like others have said, the emulators are much better than the old system. We did literally use a CD player. With these emulators, you can hold the bugle with your hand covering the end, and press the button before lifting it to your mouth. It waits about 3 seconds before it starts playing. Someone would have to look closely to tell you weren't playing.
As for the people who have mentioned that they'd take the job, go to the nearest National Cemetery and ask if they have buglers on staff. At Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, they had several of them, and they made good money. I think it was $35 per funeral, and they'd do 3 an hour.
I'm that smart ass. At least one of them.
While I play neither
Clearly. I play both, and can assure you that they are nearly identical. Bugle playing is trivial for a trumpeter. Low brass players can pick it up in a few days.
It's a matter of respect. The govt. should be willing to spend the money to get this job done properly, out of respect for the families.
It's wonderful, inspiring, and beautiful that the VFW folks come out to do this for free. But they shouldn't have to. The govt., with it's billions spent on war, should pay for this simple, inexpensive tribute. The fact that they don't reveals the true cynical priorities of the people in charge.
There are plenty of working musicians out there who would love to spend a weekend honoring the families. But you do actually have to pay these guys. And $60/day just isn't going to do it.
I actually agree that it's better than nothing. Someone posted above about a VFW fellow coming out and using one of these devices. To my mind, it's incredibly touching to have someone come out and do that. But it's hard to get around the fact that after a lifetime of service, the Govt. can't be bothered to fund such a simple and profound ritual.
I also feeled compelled to point out that it is very shortsighted to skimp on this cost. A military family who is offended by a cheap funeral is less likely to retain whatever warm fuzzies they have about military service, and less likely to encourage the next generation to enlist.
Four or five people wouldn't be enough to cover a few states, much less the whole country. What most people don't realize is that the military is required to perform every funeral they are asked to do, for all active duty and veterans. I only served four years, but I am eligible for honors. I think you have to be dishonorable discharged to lose that right. When I was on the honor guard at Scott AFB, we did over 2000 funerals in 2000. And it just keeps increasing as more funeral homes find out it's required.
As I (and others) have said before here, this is a hell of a lot better than the CD player we used to use.
Sorry, I'm suddenly pissed off.
Gah - well, I might as well mention to an above poster that said they play roughly two notes per octave, that's only true in the lowest octave. If I know what I'm talking about, a bugle is roughly equivalent to a trumpet with the first and third valves held down. Regardless of what valves are down for any combination the lowest octave can play two notes with that key combination (8 total), the next octave plays roughly 4 (I'm thinking of the open combo - you *can* play a high Bb open, it just isn't so pretty) and the higher you go the more notes you can play with a given key combo. It's actually pretty complex because some combos mean you can't accurately hit the note without "lipping" it up or down some. Again, a competent player can do so with little effort.
To be fair, I think that active-duty casualties still get a real bugler. AFAIK, these devices are for (much more common) veteran's funerals.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
You're splitting hairs. Sure there are subtle differences, but if you had to grab a unfamiliar trombone you could still do the gig. The argument is about the practicality of trumpeters picking up the bugle; tonal differences are irrelevant.
There are plenty of ways to deal with a cold horn. And you're not going to tear your lips playing taps cold. That's patently ridiculous. I've been playing trumpet for 27 years, and there have been plenty of times when I had to start something cold, or even in the cold, outdoors, below freezing. Even high, loud and fast, borrowed instruments or dinged mouthpieces, It's really no big deal. Just get over yourself and play the damned horn, as former mentor once said.
As far as tuning, who cares? You're the only instrument out there, you'll be in tune with yourself. If you actually have perfect pitch, then you'll be able to correct with your lip.
Years ago ( 1992-1996 ) I served with The Commandant's Own, United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps. I'd like to address two things:
Funerals
When we talk about a bugle playing taps we are talking about a "simple funeral" ( a full honors funeral consists of a complete band ) and we are also typically talking about a field music playing taps on a Bb Trumpet because the U.S. Military only has 2 D&B corps left. One is The Commandant's Own in Washington, DC and the other is the U.S. Naval Academy Drum & Bugle Corps. I'm not sure how the USNA D&B works but the USMC D&B has a Duty Music of the Guard and an on-call rotation of upper-voice ( Soprano & Mellophone players ) musicians for funerals. Lower voices ( baritone and contra-bass baritone players ) do not do funerals for what should be an obvious reason. The means there are only several dozen musicans available for funerals and most of them are not available due to other operational committments of the organization. That said, they perform at hundreds of simple funerals per year in the Washington, DC area. The families of the fallen servicemen who receive these last honors are truely the lucky ones. I've witnessed many funerals and they are truely emotiona.
Thoroughout the rest of the nation simple honors funerals are perfomed by musicians from various field bands of the U.S. Military, national guard bands and volunteers from Bugles across America. They do their best to meet the mission but the sad fact is that WWII veterens are dying at a rate of couple thousand per day. Many unfortunatly, do not get proper last honors.
Bugles:
I've seen many posts in this thread with misconceptions of what a bugle is. In the military context the bugles are 2 valved ( pistons ) instruments that are pitched in G. The first valve lowers the pitch by 2 semitones and the 2nd valve lowers the pitch by a semitone. This provides for a full chromatic scale in the instruments middle range. Some notes in the lower registers are missing. Music is written to the treble clef and arranged in SATB format. Typically it's Upper and Lower Lead, 2nd and 3rd Soprano. Upper/Lower Melophones. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Baritones ( 8vb ) and Contrabass Baritone ( 15vb ).
Okay, trumpet/bugle/cornet/etc players. Put your instrument where your mouth is and volunteer.
Bugles Across America needs volunteers.
Double that. I was in the army in the early 80's. The band on base (Fort Ord, CA) could not afford to spare their trumpet players for funerals because they needed them for other ceremonies (with a full band) so they got OJT's (On Job Training, soldiers "borrowed" from other units) to play taps. I was one of them. Let me tell you, when you're at a high-profile funeral, with generals and other high-ranking officers present, the pressure to play taps WELL is high. Also, since you have to stand at attention for the ceremony, you can't stay "warmed up" like you need to, so you're essentially playing "cold". I flubbed a note once in a while, and I've played trumet since 5th grade.