THE BUGLE-CALLS OF THE BRITISH ARMY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1751, 13 June 1885, Page 25

THE BUGLE-CALLS OF THE BRITISH ARMY.

m AN ENGLISH OPFIOBB

* All military matters are brougbfc nowadays much more frequently &o the eyes add ears off the general public than Wf» the case formerly,, and perhaps hardly a family exists, in village or tows, bub has Rome connection with members of either the Regular Army, the Militia, or the Volunteers. During the summer months,, when camps of instrsotion are so frequently formed, the sound of tfae bagle testifies to the* presence of the civilian army throughout the length and breadth of the land, and the inhabitants of a garrison town are in the same way continually reminded of the presence of regular troops by the notes of the bugle. The call? being the same whether addressed to trio volunteers in oamp or to the inmates of a town barrack, a short explanation of them may be found interesting to those who frequently bear them.

Considering the length of some of the calls, it may surprise the reader to hear that there are only five different notes played on the bugle, and though that is the case the language of tbe instrument ie not. at all limited. A language with only five words might bethought easy to learn, and yet the different arrangements of these ll words" (" sentences," as I may call them) are endless. It is,' indeed, a very necessary part of a soldier's training to learn the language of the bugle, and even unmusical men soon acquire it. For, in the firßt place, the same " calls " sound much about the same time each day— a hungry recruit, for instance, does not take long to recognise the " Dinner Bugle," nor does the careless soldier forget the summons to extra drill, much as be might wisb to do so. The men in their barrack-rooms, too, often associate words with tbe notes of the bugle, and that is a help to remember the> meaning of tbe sounds heard.

I will first explain, as to the instrument itself, that the notes are all made with the lip and tongue ; there are no keys used, as is the case with most brass instruments : they are all notes of the common chord; and although bugleß are always in the key of B flat, music for them is written in the key of C. The notes used (the five words of the language) are —

It will be easily understood that no great knowledge of the principles of musio is necessary to play an instrument bo limited in its capacity; a correct ear, a thorough acquaintance with time — for even dotted semiquavers occur frequently — and a power of learning by heart all the different calls are the chief essentials.

Tbe authorised course of instruction for a bugler is to begin by playing the lowest note with a!l tbe variations of time or duration. The same exercises are then taught on the second note, G ; these two notes are then combined in a variety of ways, after which the original one-note exercises are taken on the third note of the bugle ; and when perfect in that note, exercises are played with the three notes combined, and so on with the others.

This very monotonous work is often to be heard near barracks, and it becomes decidedly paiuful to the ear when, perhaps, one or two boys out of & class of six or eight play out of tune. I have, however, known a caße of a boy turning out a first-rate bugler who never went through a regular course at all. His father was a sergeant, who had left the army, and merely by whistling the bugle-calls, as he remembered them, the boy picked them up, and having learnt bow to sound the bugle, repro duced them very correctly. This is perhaps, rather an unusual case, and, if often tried, would naturally end in the calls being played very irregularly. There are altogether over sixty different calls in constant use, but it would certainly only puzzle my readers, and occupy too much space, woie Ito givo half of them here. So I will take the commonest of them in the order in which they might be expf cted to occur in any one day, either in a barrack or in a camp : and if any one wishes for a further acquaintance with the language of the bugle, he can get it by buying a copy of the regulation manual.

Complete silence is supposed to reign during the night both in camp and barracks, though oven strict military discipline has not yet put a stop to snoring ; but these stentorian sounds are not often heard by outsiders, and the first intimation they get that the silence of night is past is frequently the report of the morning gun. In any caeo, about 6 a.m. the bugler begins hiß day's duty by sounding the "Rouse": —

For Borne peculiar reason, soldiers have associated with these notes the following words :—": — " I bought a horse, I bought a horse, I stole a donkey." The music as far as the pause must be repeated twice. The last two bars bave no words set to them.

There is another bugle-call used sometimes instead of tho " House" ; it is called the " Reveille's," and is much longer and more difficult to pJay : in fact, buglers often break down in it, as ifc is vary tryiag to their lips tbo first thing in the morning. Ther<> are no less than changes of time ; beginning very slow, in common time, it then increases to an allegretto, which is followed by a rapid movement in (5-8 time ; tho next part is slower again, and it finishes in 2-4 time, uresto. t The next call wi!! m the "Dress fo? Pesfttfe.'

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I give the first four bars only, which ara re peated note for note.at the and also :-—

Shortly after this call will come the " Fallin," by which time every man must bo ready to step into hia placa in the ranks : —

It must not be thought that these three calls would always ba heard exactly one after the other, for the bujrle is tha usual means by which ordera of all kinds are conveyed, and if anything or any one was wanted different from the case I have assumed, the bugler would certainly ba called into requisition. Another remark I must make is that every regiment has a short, but distinctive, call of its own, which precedes all other bujcla-calls ; ifc is of use in calling attention to the order which is going to be given — much, in fact, as one man calls another by his name before making a re mark to him. It ia also really neceseary in cases when two or more regiments ara in camp together, and when the bugles of one regiment would ba haard equally plainly by tha others, bo that great confusion would occasionally arise if the " Regimental Call" were not distinctly haard. During the early hours of the day there would probably be many calls played, with the objeot of getting together the men previously detailed for special duties — for instance, a fatigue party might be wanted for cleaning up tho barrack buiidiDgs, or a psrty to form a piquet might have to march off to it a station ; and whenever the day's anppiy of bread and meat was ready for issue, the " Ration Bugle " would sound :—

This call is a good example .of how different orders are given by tho bugle with only veryy slight alteration of the notes played. Aa given above, it means that the ration of bread is ready to b9 served out ; tha ' men, therefore, who=<e duty ik waa fco fetch it from the stores would take with them thair largo tin dishes ; but if the »ame call wero played with the last long note repeated twice, it would boow that the day's ration of meat was rcaiy. The man would then have to take with tbor?' the nets in which the meat is cookod. And ifc would show the cooks that their work would very soon commence, and thoy would put tha* fin'shing touches to their respective fires. The " Rition Cill " is also sounded whon groceries o-: vac;etablo3 are to ba issued, b'.ifc in this ca^c tbo long note is vepaatod three timon. • I will now giva a 'bei^le oall which mvii; bn heard every day wherever a body of soldiers if quartered It may bo sounded at differenthours, at different stations, and rm\y h$ earlier or later, according to the time of yaar, bnt it U generally souodad with great punctuality : it i>-> tho " Guard Bugle" :—

This calls the .soldiers to thoir most important duty — a duty for which they Slave been preparing themselves and their accmtromnntß with great diligence, and which thsy dislike perhapß as much as any othor duty they have to do. Sometimsa iho men f<>r picket have to parade at the sanw time as tht men for guard, and it is for that reason, I suppose, that soldiers have set to theso notes the following words, which must be repeated to fil in with the music : " Come and do'your picket, boys, come and do your, guard." A littln later in the morning, perhaps about 9.30 or 10, tho bugle will Bound again for drill. After a few minutes' steady drill, carried out by word of command, a auddaa change will come over the general appearance of tha move nients. About half the men will run out, separating themselves from one another, and tha other half will throw thamaelvea flat ou the ground. This shows that tho troops ara to bs pxeroised in an imaginary attack on tho enemy, and as they will be spread over a large tract of c mntry orders mu3t ba conveyed to then 1 by the bugle. I must not attempt fco carry my readers throueh the vaiying fortunes of an action and give all tha calla which might possibly havo to be sounded. Our gallant troops at length march back to their quarters, and shortly after their.return, perhapa even before they have had time to wash the dust from their faces aud the dirt from their riflas, tho welcome nctbs of the " Dinner Bugle" will resound through the barracks :—

and voices will be heard in joyful reply, "You're fllad you've 'listed now, boys, you're glad yo\i've 'listed now ;" and very true the remark is, 100, for there is many a lad in the army sits down every day of his life to a better dinner than he ever had before he donned hor Majesty V uniform. This same call is sounded for the men's breakfasts, at about 7.45, and for their tea at Aor 4.30 p.m. ; and oa each occasion it w followed by another call, about a quarter of an hour later, which is termed tbo second bugle, and also • about tha same time tho Hergeants will be summoned to thoir meals, but the calls need not be given here. In the afternoon the bugler will not be worked bo hard. Probably, about '6 o'clock there will be another drill ; there may be also a summons to " school " for thoEe lads who have not passed Iho rr quired simple examination ! A littlo la<or Iho psrgeante who have to stay in barracks will be called tcgnfher by tho bugle for " Orders, 1 ' when the detail of work for tbc cost day i^s giv )u out. Attov diivk, and nntil about 0 SO, the " Defaulter's Call" is Boundnd onco an hour, -t uhic'i tiinen tho men confined to barracks h/v\i to answer their names to tlm fiurgeaur, so fcbv he may be suro none of them avo absent. A* a contrast to this, I will (?ive tbo " Officosa' Dinner Call," -for, happily, the bugler ha^ IJCiisan* nrdotß to give as woll as diaagioeabJe ones. Soldiers often put these word'! fri the first four bare ■- " Tha officers' ivivsu ea.6 pudd.'i?«a Bad ple", but adtfet'-idTee isA ski^j/,''

Why special referanco is made to the fair sex I do not know ;• the ladies of a re:<imaat do nut of necessity have to obey the buprlo for settling .hair dinner hour, nor would it be true nowadays to state that the soldiers' wives hay.? to ba c mtont with prison fare, yet thia is dinanctly assumed in the worda quoted. But b^ chat as it may, the words and the music go well ■jnough together, and so we must let it pass without further commont : —

There are three long bugle-cailo which cannot be given in cxtenso, but which would very soon become familiar to any one on the look-out for them. The first of the threo is called the "Ralreat," and is always played at sunset, unless the authorities of the garrison take it into thoir heads to order ifc to be played at any particular time; I believe in soma places, for instance, ifc is always sound at 6 o'clock. The second its the "Tattoo," or "First Post," aud may be heard at 9.30 p.m., and i 3 not unfrequently followed by a roll of drums, and l-hen a marching through the streets by the drum and fife band. Half an hour later the third call is played, or "Last Post;' and after this, any soldier seen in tho streets is either ''absent" or "on pass," The concluding bars of both the "First" and "Last, Post" are exactly alike, and the iong low notes, which aro easily recognised, occur also at the beginning of the "Last Post;" there is, indeed, a great similarity between tha two calls. I give here the opening bars of tho "Retreat" and tho ending of the " Last Post " : — Rktre \t.

And as the last long note dies away, the bugler may congratulate himsolf that hia work is nearly over. He has bad little rest all day ; he has had to be ready at a moment's notice !,o give the necessary orders ; he could not even fit down to his meah in perfect security ; and now one more note is all he has to sound. A quarter of an hour is allowed after the "Last Post," and then tha order is given for "Lights Out" :-

which tha bugler plays with considerable «atißfaction. The men w'lo are not already fihere tumble into bed with all the haste thay can ; tho amokirs pnr.tch a pa) ting light for rheir pipea; the kasa aigim.onfc or .'heated 'iiscussion has to wait for anlii'iion tilt tba following morning ; and ailence once more roigns supreme, — dsseU'o Magazine.