“ Welcome to Tapsbugler! This is a blog like site and you can write feedback on many of the posts here. Have fun exploring. Either click the Index tab for a listing of the posts or do a search in our great search box. Enjoy the site and I hope you come away with a little more knowledge about this great American treasure we have in those 24 notes. ”
This page contains extensive articles on the subjects of taps, bugles, buglers, history, events, and news. Browse by tags or categories to find articles of interest.
May 31st, 2010
The Significance of Taps
There are two pieces of music that particularly stir the hearts and emotions of Americans — The Star-Spangled Banner and Taps.
To many Americans Taps conveys an important message through its twenty-four notes. To U.S. soldiers from the Civil War on, when sounded at night the call meant that all was well. It gave a sense of security and safety to those military members and also signaled that another day in the service to their country [...]
May 30th, 2010
An excerpt from Thirty Years After: An Artist’s Memoir of the Civil War
The passage of years makes more remote the events of army life, the veteran’s memory grows stronger in recollection; but no reminiscence, however treasured, will take him back in thought and feeling like the familiar sound of the old bugle-calls. From a keyless instrument the notes were necessarily of simple character, but clear and sweet; and the rollicking calls of the cavalry and artillery, and the [...]
May 30th, 2010
An Excerpt From Twenty-Four Notes That Tap Deep Emotions: The Story of America’s Most Famous Bugle Call
By Jari Villanueva
Of all the military bugle calls, none is so easily recognized or more apt to evoke emotion than the call Taps. The melody is both eloquent and haunting and the history of its origin is interesting and somewhat clouded in controversy. In the British Army, a similar type call known as Last Post has been sounded over soldiers’ [...]
May 30th, 2010
A Personal Reminiscence, 2005
Growing up in Wisconsin during the 1950s and 60s, I was active in the Boy Scouts. At that time, World War II was still in the not so distant past and many of the Scout dads were veterans. Over the years I encountered dads who had landed on Iwo Jima, flown B-24s over Germany, and slugged it out in the Hurtgen Forest.
During my last active years, I worked on the staff [...]
September 12th, 2006
A re-release of the 1981 film with George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn and Tom Cruise. It includes a bunch of bonus material including the original TV spots and “The Bugler’s Cry: The Origins of Playing ‘Taps’” (7 minutes). Historian and bugler Jari Villanueva discusses the history of the song.
Some on-line reviews:
* “The Bugler’s Cry featurette proved to be very informative regarding the background of the playing of Taps and its [...]
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