If you’ve been reading my blog, you will know that my only cousin has passed away recently. Family and friends gathered for his wake and funeral, and it was a good send off. But, there’s just one little thing that has bothered me.
My cousin was in the Navy, so when it came time for his burial, the Navy sent two men to do the flag ceremony. The ceremony is very touching, with the solemn attention to the folding of the flag, and the slow-motion salutes. At one point, one of the men bent over, hit a switch, and we heard a recorded performance of “Taps.”
I suppose that no one else in the gathering gave it any thought, but I minded that Taps was not a live performance. I was a band director for eleven years. In my opnion, there are some places where a taped recording is inappropriate, and a funeral is one of them.
I’ve been pondering just how many trained musicians would be needed to play Taps in all the cemeteries where former members of our Armed Forces are being laid to rest. Although the Armed Forces have 500 buglers available, last year an average of 1800 veterans were buried each day. Arlington Cemetery is the only burial ground where taps is played live for every burial.
The Armed Forces felt that recorded music was inappropriate, and rather than supply trained musicians, they chose to purchase 4,000 “ceremonial bugles.” The bugles have a computerized chip imbedded in the bell which plays Taps. Unfortunately, some of the men responsible for the use of the ceremonial bugles need to be instructed in how to hold a bugle.
In my surfing, I discovered that Tom Day, of Berwyn, Illinois, has founded “Bugles Across America” to recruit civilian musicians to play taps at funerals. Day has gathered 3,000 volunteers, who have performed at 36,000 funerals in the past three years.
This seems like a much better way to deal with the increased need for buglers. I’m sure the military has prioritzed their expenses and that some may see a bugler as an inappropriate use of their funds, but I think we need to honor those who served on our behalf. Surely the presence of a trained bugler to play their final Taps is not too much to ask.