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 me, 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 men and also signaled that another day in the service to their
country was done.  Because of the melodious and poignant nature of the call it is no wonder
that it was adopted as the final call at funerals.  As Gustav Kobbe stated in an 1898 Century
article:
"Played slowly and expressively, it has a tender, touching, mournful character, in keeping
with the fact that it is sounded not only for 'lights out,' but also over the soldier's grave, be
he general or private, so that as with 'lights out' night closes in upon the soldier's day, so
with the same call the curtain rolls down upon his life."
Over the twenty-three years I've sounded Taps at various national cemeteries, there are ceremonies that stand out in my
memory.  Of all the times I've sounded the call, the most memorable were the times I sounded it at the Tomb of the
Unknowns.  To me to this is the highest honor that a bugler can perform.  It is the military musician's equivalent of "playing
Carnegie Hall."

I sounded the call at the funeral of General Ira Eaker, commander of the 8th Air Force during World War II, and for the
funeral of General Godfrey McHugh, Air Force Aide to President Kennedy.  I sounded the British call "Last Post" at the grave
of a WWII Australian flyer who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in a ceremony attended by the Australian Air Force
Chief of Staff.  On most Memorial Day weekends for over a dozen years I have performed at a memorial service for the Flying
Tigers, the WWII flying group, at the Old Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington.  This is especially moving for me, to see these
real heroes of a previous generation.

The hardest funerals at which I've been asked to sound Taps were those of active duty military members.  One such was a
funeral in Oil City, Pennsylvania for a nineteen-year-old airman who was killed by a drunk driver while on his way to his first
duty assignment.  At the cemetery, most of the mourners were teenagers from his high school.  As I began to play, a wail
went up from those who knew this young man.  It was hard to finish the call.  Another tough time was when I sounded the
call for a friend's father who had served as a bombardier during WWII.  As I glanced at her before beginning, I noticed that
she was wearing his wings.  Pretty difficult...

When I sound the call at a ceremony I'm sometimes approached by family members who wish to thank me for being part of
the service.  A reply of, "You are welcome," has always seemed inappropriate or inadequate, so I say, "It is my honor."
A Shortage of Buglers?
Indeed it is my honor when I get a chance to perform this ritual for those who have given part of their lives to our nation.  
And there is certainly a need for qualified buglers around the country to perform this service.

In the past, when not available, military buglers could be replaced by musicians from a VFW or American Legion Drum and
Bugle Corps or even Boy Scouts.  However, the tradition of bugling and drum corps in those organizations has all but
disappeared.  A real shame, for those groups have long fostered musicianship and patriotism.  

With veterans dying at the rate of over one thousand each day and with many of the funeral services only having a recording
of Taps as the musical honors, lawmakers are looking into having legislation passed to ensure that each family that requests
military honors for a deceased veteran will be provided with a live bugler and firing party.  However, I surmise that there
is not actually a shortage of buglers but simply an inadequate system currently in place
to make sure all requests for a live bugler are met.

If you are interested providing the service of sounding Taps at a funeral, you may want
to alert your local VFW and American Legion Posts and local funeral homes that you are
willing to perform at funerals, or contact your state's National Guard office and find
out if they have a need for civilian contract buglers for ceremonies.  Many buglers and
professional trumpeters are willing to sound Taps and can be hired to do this duty.

Because few civilian buglers today have the background of a military musician and
many are unaware of the protocol involved, the following guidelines are written to
provide those with little knowledge of military ceremonies with the basics needed for
rendering this honor.  These guidelines can also be downloaded as a PDF file from the
Tapsbugler home page.  I hope this helps to guide those buglers who have a sincere
interest in sounding Taps at funerals.

Download a MP3 of taps (here)

Download the famous broken taps from JFK's Funeral (here)

For more history of Taps go to this site http://www.tapsbugler.com/