Page 104 - MustangEbook

It seems, however, that the drummer, for a or buffalo. The first hunting horns were
considerable number of years, was only unquestioningly made from the horn of this
employed as one of the retinue of great animal.
Officers and not generally included as part of
the establishment of the Army. In the list of Bugles were first used to control the
the Army employed during the disastrous war movement of troops in battle. Bugle music
with France in 1557, drums were appointed to can be used to signal the different times of the
the Regiment of Foot in the proportion of one day. It is common practice in Army camps,
drummer and one fifer to a company of a bugle music is played at 6am, at noon and at
hundred men. The role of music in the military 6 pm in the evening, every day. This custom
is often downplayed or forgotten. But was adapted from the British practice of
nonetheless, it has a significant place in the sounding the bugle every day, at the
pageantry, which surrounds certain prescribed timing, whilst outfield.
ceremonial occasions in the SAF. From the
commissioning ball to the ceremonial parades TATTOO
ever present in the SAF, stirring military Click to hear TATTOO
music accentuates the occasion, allowing the
listener to be totally immersed in the military
setting.
How did a drummer’s word like “tattoo” get
Military music, though usually associated tagged on a bugle call? It probably originated
with joyous military occasions, can also be a among the British troops in Holland during
touching dedication to the fallen comrade in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) or during
arms. The “Last Post” is a melancholic but the wars of King William III in the 1690’s.
dignified tune usually played at military When the time came for soldiers to leave the
funerals by a sole bugler to signify the passing taverns and return to their billets, the Officer
of a brave member of the Armed Forces. The of the Day, with a Sergeant and drummer,
“Last Post” and “Dead March from Soul” are would beat his way through the streets. It is
examples of tunes commonly used to honour the signal to quiet down in barracks and to
the fallen dead in the SAF. turn off the lights within fifteen minutes.

BUGLE CALL TAPS

Click to hear TAPS

Of all the military bugle calls, none is so
easily recognized or more apt to render
emotion than Taps. Up to the Civil War, the
traditional call at day’s end was a tune,
borrowed from the French, and called Lights
The bugle, short for “bugle horn”, is a Out.
descendant of the hunting horn. The word
“bugle” itself is an obsolete term for a wild ox