OT Taps

Sometimes it's played all-funny-like and called The Last Post. John T.

Talk about coincidence, as I'm reading the article Taps is being played on the TV. Watching History Channel. The World Wars.

Bagpipes sure make things sound sad.

Then there is this: Blood upon the Risers

Interesting article, but after a while and after I found a recording of The Last Post, I realized it answered a different question from the one I asked. The Last Post is an entirely different melody from Taps. Not surprising since it's played in Canada.

I was asking about Taps itself, but played with a flaw. In one of the lines where it goes daaa-da-daaa, instead there is daaa-da-dedah, one note played off pitch for a split second.

...well, while google is clever, sometimes it makes all the difference what search terms are used. When I tried instead of flaw or error, "imperfect rendition", I got exactly one/two hits, that explained it.

It was only played that way once, at JFK's funeral in 1963. And it was a mistake. But I and some others think it captured the feeling of those who were there or watching better than a perfect rendition.

The second video included it. So does the third.

There are no valves on a bugle, so the buglar's voice, I guess it is, determines the pitch.

All thesek 50+ years I thought it was on purpose.

Farther down was a second hit, the buglar's obituary in the NYTimes

which talks about how he made the error.

Also,but without both words in a row:

Definitely a coincidence, but it is Memorial Day, for both of us.

I know that he blows but he does more than that. How does he change the pitch? Assume I put "voice" in quotes.

"And I can't help but wonder oh Willy McBride Do all those who lie here know why they died Did you really believe them when they told you the cause Did you really believe that this war would end wars Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame The killing and dying it was all done in vain Oh Willy McBride it all happened again And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly Did they play the fife lowly Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down Did the band play the last post and chorus Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest "

Everyone should be made to watch the reality and cruelty of war. Perhaps it would change how we do things in the future. But probably not.

On the original Star Trek episode titled, "A Taste of Armageddon", the people on two warring planets have become so tired of fighting that they agree to allow their respective computers to run simulations, at the end of which the computers announce how many citizens on each side have been "killed". At that point, the "killed" citizens have a certain amount of time to report to the disintegrator where they will actually be killed. Captain Kirk gave one of his best speeches in that episode.

The tension in his lips. Even with a valved trumpet or other brass instrument, the player changes the pitch with his lips. The valves help, but they don't do the whole job.

Google "how to play a trumpet".

Cindy Hamilton

Bugles, trumpets, baritones, trombones, rely on the player buzzing his lips to create the sound. They change the pitch at least partly by changing how the player squeezes his lips. Lips replace reeds on things like saxophones and clarinets.

One of my uncles played trumpet in his high school band. When he died, his trumpet came to stay at our house for a time, where each of us kids picked it up and tried to 'play it'. We could each make noise with it, but we quickly had a beet red face and had to put it down to catch our breath.

The trumpet disappeared pretty quickly, which I now assume was just Mom's way of saying she was tired of the noise. That was ~40 years before Google and we didn't have anyone to show us how to play it.

On Mon, 31 May 2021 23:08:17 -0400, Ed Pawlowski posted for all of us to digest...

Not, because the wrong people will watch it.

Same with the present reality, opinions shut down reality... I have seen reality. It sucks sometimes, but I forward and don't look back because it can't be changed.

Forward he cried from the rear And the front rank died And the general sat And the lines on the map Moved from side to side

Maybe it's meant to teach humility.

One way or another, life is full of those teaching moments.

"Broken Taps". I wear a flag tie in honor of all those who sacrificed to give me the freedom to wear a flag tie. To all my Brothers Coast Guard Brothers reading this: "Semper Paratus". Jon

On Wed, 2 Jun 2021 12:05:00 -0700 (PDT), Jon Foster posted for all of us to digest...

Thank you for your service.

USCG LORSTA Sylt, Germany, 1975-1976 (LORAN-C Technician) USCG LORSTA Port Clarence, AK 1976-1977 (LORAN-C Senior Technician) USCG TRACEN Governors Island, NY 1977-1979 (LORAN-C Instructor)

Semper Paratus