Bugle call

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bugle call is a short tune, originating in a military context. A defining feature of a bugle tune is that it consists only of notes from a single overtone series. This is in fact a requirement if the tune is to be playable on a bugle or equivalently on a trumpet without using the valves.

Some examples of bugle calls:

Alarm (as played by Sam Jaffe near the end of Gunga Din)
Assembly
Boots and saddles
Call to Quarters
Church Call
Drill
Fatigue
Fire
First Call or Call to the Post (familiar at horse tracks in the US)
Last Post
Mess
Officers
Recall
Retreat
Reveille
The Rouse
Sick Call
Taps
Tattoo
To the Color/Morning Colors

An appendix to Upton's A New System of Infantry Tactics (1867) contains the tunes of numerous calls in addition to the ones listed above, such as "Turn Right," "Turn Left," "Rise Up," "Lay Down," "Commence Firing," "Cease Firing," and so on.

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

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 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 US Mess Call:

Soupy, soupy, soupy, without a single bean!

Coffee, coffee, coffee, without a drop of cream!

Porky, porky, porky, without a streak of lean!

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 warships (signalling between ships being by way of signal flags.)