When James Williams, a fellow classmate, posted about his love for the trumpet and announced his offer to teach bugling to anyone who wanted, a little dream of mine that had been hiding away somewhere inside me jumped out from within me and shouted for joy. I would do whatever it took to find my way to his apartment and learn what I have always wanted to learn, how to wake people up in the morning (and also lull them to sleep at night...) with the beautiful sound of a bugle. It was difficult and confusing at first, but I had a good teacher and we were able to make beautiful (maybe I'm exaggerating a little) music by the end of the night, while managing to also wake up the neighbors and then lull them back to sleep.
Frist attempt at Bugling!!:
The above video shows how James was able to teach me the song "Reveille" or, in english, "Wake Up." Before we did this though he had me listen to some popular military Bugle calls and I was obviously most familiar with this one. It is amazing, as seen through the video, that although I didn't know what notes to play or what rhythm or measure, I was able to learn this folk knowledge by physical means of listening and repeating. Another cool thing with the Bugle that kind of makes it difficult is that there are no valves. This means that every change of note and pitch must be done with the change in the shape of your lips and your tongue, this formation of your mouth is called an embouchure. With this form of playing you can only play songs with up to five notes in a sequence. Now I wasn't too great as you can see in this first attempt at playing the instrument, but I was still learning the basics such as "tonguing" using my tongue to change notes quickly.
I do get a little bit better with this next song, arguably the most recognized bugle call: "Taps." Here is my attempt below, Enjoy!
What was great about this song is that beforehand James actually read me the History of Taps which gave me a better idea of the truly spiritual meaning behind this song I had heard many times before. It is amazing how I was able to play this song with James pretty well as I had heard it so many times and therefore had already gained the folk knowledge of the music itself but not how to play it. It was amazing to just think of how it should sound and move my mouth and suddenly I was playing taps!! This is when I realized that playing the Bugle can be a mantic activity as I felt some deep beauty and spirituality as I played that tune of grief and honor. I know I still was not an expert but I think after having James take me through some more songs by the time we got to this one I had progressed loads from Reveille.
Above is a little snippet of James playing Taps outside on his porch as the night came and it was time for sleep. As I listened to this beautiful sound I realized that the simple art of playing the Bugle goes beyond just knowing songs. The folk knowledge of playing a bugle can be a way to give repetition to soldiers lives in the morning and night, a way to express grief and honor to those who have passed, it can be a strategic way to signal for cavalry charges and battle formations, and it can be a way to relate to our past ancestors as James was able to do through playing his grandfather's bugle. He explained that his grandfather bugled for 6 years everyday at a marine core hospital between 1932-1939. In gratitude for his service, the hospital gave him the bugle that I had the pleasure of learning how to play tonight. What a great way to connect to our ancestry through beautiful music. I'm glad James taught me a knowledge that I could learn no other way then by having him sit down with me and show me what creating true beauty sounds like.
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