The
bugle
is a simple
signaling
brass instrument
with a wide
conical bore
. It normally has no
valves
or other pitch-altering devices, and is thus limited to its
natural harmonic
notes, and
pitch
is controlled entirely by varying the air and
embouchure
.
Bugle
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Bugle_in_C_MET_DP-12679-123.jpg/250px-Bugle_in_C_MET_DP-12679-123.jpg) |
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Classification
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Hornbostel?Sachs classification
| 423.121.22
(
Natural trumpets
? an aerophone, with vibrating air enclosed within the instrument, the player's lips cause the air to vibrate directly, the player's lips are the only means of changing the instrument's pitch, the instrument is tubular, the player blows into the end of the tube, the tube is bent or folded, the instrument has a mouthpiece)
|
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Developed
| Antiquity; modern forms, c. 17th century
|
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Five-pitch scale of the bugle in C.
Bugle scale.mid
ⓘ
|
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To the Color
, a United States bugle call, equivalent to the national anthem, played on army posts when raising or lowering the national flag.
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- See also
Clarion
and
Natural trumpet
The English word
bugle
comes from a combination of words. From French, it reaches back to
cor bugler
and
bugleret
, indicating a signaling
horn
made from a small cow's horn. Going back further, it touches on Latin,
buculus,
meaning bullock. Old English also influences the modern word with
bugle
, meaning "wild ox."
[1]
The name indicates an animal's (cow's) horn, which was the way horns were made in Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The modern bugle is made from metal tubing, and that technology has roots which date back to the Roman Empire, as well as to the Middle East during the Crusades, where Europeans re-discovered metal-tubed trumpets and brought them home.
[3]
Historically, horns were curved trumpets, conical, often made from ox or other animal horns, from shells, from hollowed ivory such as the
olifant
.
There existed another tradition of trumpets made of straight metal tubes of brass or silver that went back in Europe as far as the Greeks (
salpinx
) and Romans (
Roman tuba
), and further back to the Etruscans, Assyrians and Egyptians (
King Tut's Trumpet
).
[3]
After the fall of Rome, when much of Europe was separated from the remaining Eastern Roman Empire, the straight, tubular sheet-metal trumpet disappeared and curved horns were Europe's trumpet.
[5]
The sheet-metal tubular trumpet persisted in the Middle East and Central Asia as the
nafir
and
karnay
, and during the
Reconquista
and
Crusades
, Europeans began to build them again, having seen these instruments in their wars.
[3]
[6]
The first made were
the anafil in Spain and buisine in France and elsewhere.
Then Europeans took a step that hadn't been part of trumpet making since the Roman (
buccina
and
cornu
); they figured out how to bend tubes without ruining them and by the 1400s were experimenting with new instruments.
[3]
[7]
Whole lines of brass instruments were created, including initially examples like the clarion and the natural trumpet.
These were bent-tube variations that shrunk the long tubes into a manageable size and controlled the way the instruments sounded.
One of the variations was to create "sickle shaped" horn or "hunting horns" in the 15th century.
By the 18th century, Germans had created a "half moon" shaped horn called the
halbmondblaser
, used by Jager battalions.
During the last quarter of the 18th century, or by 1800, the half-moon horn was bent further into a loop, possibly first by William Shaw (or his workshop) of London.
The instrument was used militarily at that point as the "bugle horn."
In 1758, the
Halbmondblaser
(half-moon) was used by light infantry from
Hanover
, and continued until after 1813.
It was crescent-shaped (hence its name) and comfortably carried by a shoulder strap attached at the mouthpiece and bell. It first spread to England where as the "bugle horn" it was gradually accepted by the light dragoons (1764), the Grenadier Guards (1772), light artillery (1788) and light infantry.
[11]
18th-century cavalry did not normally use a standard bugle, but rather an early
trumpet
that might be mistaken for a bugle today, as it lacked keys or valves, but had a more gradual taper and a smaller bell, producing a sound more easily audible at close range but with less carrying power over distance. The earliest bugles were shaped in a coil ? typically a double coil, but also a single or triple coil ? similar to the modern
horn
, and were used to communicate during hunts and as announcing-instruments for coaches (somewhat akin to today's automobile horn). Predecessors and relatives of the bugle included the
post horn
, the Pless horn (sometimes called the "Prince Pless horn"), the bugle horn, and the
shofar
, among others. The ancient Roman army used the
buccina
.
-
Iberian Celtic trumpet or bugle made from clay, 2nd-1st century B.C., Iberian Peninsula.
-
Roman bugle, 4th century. Added to the
British Museum
in 1904, this late Roman bugle is bent completely round upon itself to form a coil between the mouthpiece and the bell (broken off). Found at
Mont Ventoux
, France.
-
13th century. Angels sounding horns or trumpets. The horns were manufactured in the shape of oxen horns.
-
Awareness of trumpet experiments reached a 1405 illustrator in France, who painted a
grotesque
playing a trumpet bent into a U.
-
Virdung illustrated (1511 A.D.) bent trumpets including
felttrumet
(field trumpet) and
busaun
(
sackbut
).
-
Clarion
trumpet,
buisine
trumpet, 2
shawms
. Painted in France between 1412 and 1416. (upper left corner). The
clarion
matches the
felttrumet
in Virdung's 1511 illustrations of musical instruments.
-
Mehterhane
, Ottoman miniature circa 1568. The musicians play two
zurna
, two spiral trumpets (
boru
), a cylinder drum
davul
and a pair of kettle drums (
nakkare
). In 1529, the "Turkish field clamor" reached Vienna for the first time.
-
Hessian-Darmstadt soldiers, 1816, one with a
halbmondblaser
.
Pitch
control is done by varying the player's air and
embouchure
.
[12]
Consequently, the bugle is limited to
notes
within the
harmonic series
. Scores for standard bugle calls use the five notes of the "bugle scale".
The bugle is used mainly in the military, where the
bugle call
is used to indicate the daily routines of camp. Historically, the bugle was used in the cavalry to relay instructions from officers to soldiers during battle. They were used to assemble the leaders and to give marching orders to the camps.
The bugle is also used in
Boy Scout
troops and in the
Boys' Brigade
.
The Rifles
, an infantry regiment in the
British Army
, has retained the bugle for ceremonial and symbolic purposes, as did other rifle regiments before it. When originally formed in 1800, the
Rifle Corps
were the first dedicated light infantry unit in the British Army and were allowed a number of unique accouterments that were believed to be better suited for skirmishing, such as their green jackets. Other infantry used drums when marching and had whistles to signal when skirmishing, but the Rifle Corps was a much larger body of men that would be expected to spread out over a large area under a single commander. As a result, the bugle was taken from cavalry traditions because signals could pass much further without the need for repeats. The buglers in each
battalion
are headed by the bugle major, a senior
non-commissioned officer
holding the rank of
sergeant
or above.
The bugle has also been used as a sign of peace in the case of a surrender.
[13]
In most military units, the bugle can be fitted with a small banner or tabard (occasionally gold fringed) with the arms of its reporting service branch or unit.
[14]
In military tradition, the
Last Post
or
Taps
is the bugle call that signifies the end of the day's activities. It is also sounded at military funerals to indicate that the soldier has gone to his final rest and at commemorative services such as
Anzac Day
in Australia and New Zealand and
Remembrance Day
in Canada
[15]
Keyed bugle
,
c.
?1830
The
cornet
is sometimes erroneously considered a valved bugle, but the cornet was derived from more
narrow-bored
instruments, the French
cornet de poste
(
lit.
'
post horn
'
) and
cor de chasse
(
lit.
'
hunting horn
'
).
Keyed bugles
(
German
:
Klappenhorn
) were invented in the early 19th century. In England, a patent for one design was taken out by Joseph Halliday in 1811 and became known as the
Kent bugle
. This bugle established itself in military band music in Britain and America, and its popularity is indicated by the existence of many published method books and arrangements.
It was in wide use until about 1850 by which time it had been largely replaced by the cornet. Richard Willis, appointed the first bandmaster of the
United States Military Academy
's
West Point Band
in 1817, wrote and performed many works for the keyed bugle.
Since the mid 19th century, bugles have been made with piston valves.
- Soprano bugle (high pitch)
- Alto bugle (medium pitch)
- Baritone bugle (tenor pitch)
- Contrabass bugle
(bass pitch)
- ^
Baines, Anthony C.; Herbert, Trevor (2001). "Bugle(i)".
Grove Music Online
(8th?ed.).
Oxford University Press
.
doi
:
10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.04270
.
ISBN
978-1-56159-263-0
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Sarkissian, Margaret; Tarr, Edward H. (2001). "Trumpet".
Grove Music Online
(8th?ed.).
Oxford University Press
.
doi
:
10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.49912
.
ISBN
978-1-56159-263-0
.
...trumpet disappeared from Europe after the fall of Rome and was not reintroduced until the time of the crusades, when instruments were taken from the Saracens... In Western art before the crusades...animal horns are generally shown.
- ^
Michael Pirker (Spring 1993).
"The Looped Trumpet in the Near East"
.
RIdIM/RCMI Newsletter
.
18
(1). Research Center for Music Iconography, The Graduate Center, City University of New York: 3?8.
JSTOR
41604971
.
There is no evidence available on the use of the trumpet in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. It made its appearance again from the Orient, via the Crusades, beginning in the eleventh centuru
- ^
Farmer, H.G. (2012).
"B??"
. In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.).
Encyclopaedia of Islam
(2nd?ed.).
doi
:
10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0127
.
ISBN
9789004161214
. Retrieved
13 January
2023
.
It is generally acknowledged...that the cylindrical bore instruments were borrowed from the East. Perhaps those buccins Turcs and cors sarrasinois which the Crusading chroniclers record included the naf?r and karn?...
- ^
Pirker, Michael (2001). "Naf?r".
Grove Music Online
(8th?ed.).
Oxford University Press
.
doi
:
10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.19529
.
ISBN
978-1-56159-263-0
.
The looped trumpet is a European development adopted by Eastern cultures; from the 14th century new forms of trumpets with curved tubes started to appear in Europe, and European instruments then began to supersede the straight trumpet in Islamic societies.
- ^
"History of the Bugle Horn"
. British Army. Archived from
the original
on 5 October 2007
. Retrieved
3 May
2008
.
- ^
Weidner, Brian N. (10 August 2023).
"Chapter 3: Tone Production Fundamentals on the Mouthpiece"
.
Brass Techniques and Pedagogy
(2nd?ed.). Indianapolis: PALNI Press.
The other variable that impacts brass instrument pitch and tone is air. Air can be thought of in many different ways, including quantity and speed. More air or faster air passing through the aperture results in a higher pitch and a fuller tone. Less air or slower air passing through the aperture results in a lower pitch and a softer tone.
- ^
"Buy Generic Gold Color The Earth Affair Dokra Art Brass Bugle,tribal Trumpet,bastar Art Turi,todi Online at Best Prices in India - JioMart"
.
JioMart
. Retrieved
7 March
2024
.
- ^
King, Charles Cooper.
"The Story of the British Army"
.
gutenberg.org
. Retrieved
7 March
2024
.
- ^
"The Last Post | Army.gov.au"
.
www.army.gov.au
. Retrieved
18 October
2021
.
- Bragard, Roger (1968),
Musical instruments in art and history
, translated by
Bill Hopkins
, New York:
Viking Press
,
LCCN
68015484
,
OCLC
336611
,
Wikidata
Q116236940
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. Olympic Marketing Corp.
ISBN
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.
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.
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.
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.
- Herbert, Trevor, ed. (2019).
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments
. Cambridge:
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.
doi
:
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.
ISBN
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.
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.
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.
Wikidata
Q114571908
.
- Herbert, Trevor; Wallace, John, eds. (1997).
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.
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. Cambridge:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. New York:
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(published 1975).
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.
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.
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. New York:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wikidata
Q116223746
.
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Bugles
.