Volume 24 Issue 5 - February 2019

uglers, tired of playing their more challenging instruments,
were being offered a welcome day off?
As for the instrument’s venerable history, the modern bugle
can trace its origins to the Roman bugle around the fourth
century A.D. as early musical and communication instruments
made from animal horns with a narrow opening cut at
the tip. (The word bugle itself comes from buculus, the Latin for
bullock, a castrated bull.) Just as in today’s instruments, the tone
was produced by pursing the player’s lips against this narrow
opening and producing a buzzing sound, with the horn acting
as resonator of the sound, and the pitch dependent on the length
of the air column in the horn. At some stage, someone decided
to make a horn out of metal. A late Roman metal bugle, found in
1904 at Mont Ventoux in France, and now in the British Museum,
is bent completely around upon itself to form a coil between the
mouthpiece and the bell end. (In the case of this British Museum
specimen, the bell end was broken off some time in the long and
distant past).
The use of these instruments as signaling devices, particularly in
military operations, goes back to its earliest days. The ancient Roman
army used an instrument called the buccina. Centuries later, the
purpose of the bugle was laid out in Niccoló Machiavelli’s 1521 treatise
Libro dell’ arte della guerra (The Art of War), in which he wrote
that the commanding officer should issue orders by means of trumpets
because their piercing tone and great volume enabled them
to be heard above the pandemonium of combat. The first verifiable
formal use of a brass bugle as a military signal device was the
Halbmondblaser, or half-moon bugle, used in Hanover in 1758. It first
spread to England in 1764 where it was gradually accepted widely in
foot regiments.
Bugles, and various types of trumpets or horns, without valves or
keys, produce only limited notes (usually five) with the pitch of the
lowest note being the resonant frequency of the horn, based on its
length, and the other notes being harmonics of that.
Historically, the bugle was used in the army to relay instructions
from officers to soldiers during battle. They were used to assemble the
leaders and to give marching orders to the troops. During peace time
the bugle call was used to indicate the daily routines of camp. When
I served in HMS Sheffield, we had several Marine buglers, as well as a
full Royal Marine Band, as befitting the Admiral’s Flagship. All routine
orders throughout the day were by the specific bugle call for such
times as “sunrise, hands to supper, lights out, sunset” etc.
One of the most significant early peacetime uses of the instrument
was the post horn, to signal the arrival in town of the postman with
the mail. The original post horn had no taper until right at the bell
and the tubing was straight and narrow. Its sound is so significantly
different and appealing that many composers have written works
for the post horn either as a featured solo instrument or to add an
unusual voice in their composition.
Mozart composed his “Posthorn” Serenade in 1779. Another
example of post horn use in modern classical music is the off-stage
solo in Mahler’s Third Symphony. In the world of band music the Post
Horn Gallop, written in 1844 by the German cornet player Hermann
Koenig as a solo for post horn with orchestral accompaniment, is a
favourite, if a post horn and player are available. Due to the scarcity of
post horns (and competent players), music written for it is frequently
played on a trumpet, cornet or flugelhorn. Which of course, brings
us back to my original bugler’s lament in December, which got this
thread going.
Over the years, the British Army has retained the bugle for ceremonial
and symbolic purposes. In the Canadian forces, there was still
the rank of “Bugler” until 1945, when the regimental trade of bugler
was discontinued in the Canadian Army. Hence, bugle calls are now
played on trumpets because the bugles went when the buglers went.
By the way, to see the most amazing array of bugles, horns, trumpets
and their valved and unvalved relatives, developed over the ages,
one would have to be lucky enough to be able to visit that portion of
Henry Meredith’s vast collection in London, Ontario. Hopefully that
collection will find a suitable museum as home in the near future.
Post horn from the Grinnell College Musical Instruments Collection
New Horizons
So far we haven’t heard anything about the activities of the
numerous Toronto New Horizons groups, but have received a fine
update from Doug Robertson for the York Region groups. In an invitation
for new members, he has suggestions for potential new members
with references to Your New Year’s Resolution and Your Bucket List.
He summarizes some of the many benefits, particularly for retirees,
of learning to play an instrument in a group. He reminds people that
it’s never too late, and it has the many advantages of remaining active,
having fun with other adults, making new friends, and improving
memory. Their group classes are on Monday evenings at Cosmo Music
in Richmond Hill. For information, contact Doug Robertson,
nhbyrdirector@gmail.com or at 416-457-6316.
BANDSTAND QUICK PICKS
!!
FEB 10, 3PM: The Hannaford
Street Silver Band presents “From
Philip Smith
Russia with Brass” including The
Festive Overture, The Procession of
the Nobles, Polovtsian Dances and
others. Philip Smith, conductor and
trumpet soloist. Jane Mallett Theatre,
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
!!
FEB 24, 3PM: The Weston Silver
Band presents “Heart and Soul. R and
B and Soul with a big brass spin.” Dan
McLean Jr. and Some Honey. Glenn
Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W.
!!
MAR 2, 7:30PM: The King Edward
Choir will join the Barrie Concert
Band in their “Last Night of the
Proms” with Elgar’s Pomp and
Circumstance March No.1; Gilbert
& Sullivan: Medley; Arne’s Rule
Britannia; Handel’s Zadok the Priest, and Hallelujah. Oliver Balaburski, conductor.
Collier Street United Church, 112 Collier St., Barrie.
!!
MAR 3, 2PM: The Markham Concert Band presents “Let’s Dance! Ballet, Waltzes
and Swing,” including Big Band Polka, El Bimbo, Flunky Jim, Waltzes from Der
Rosenkavalier and other tunes. Flato Markham Theatre, 171 Town Centre Blvd.,
Markham.
!!
MAR 3, 3:30PM: The Wychwood Clarinet Choir will have “WCC at the Oscars.”
Selections range from Gershwin’s An American in Paris to Mozart’s Adagio from
Gran Partita; Bernstein’s Tonight from West Side Story; Arlen’s Somewhere Over
the Rainbow; and Loewe’s I Could Have Danced All Night. Michele Jacot, conductor.
Church of St. Michael and All Angels, 611 St. Clair Ave. W.
Jack MacQuarrie plays several brass instruments and
has performed in many community ensembles. He can
be contacted at bandstand@thewholenote.com.
CHRIS LEE
thewholenote.com December 2018 / January 2019 | 39