BUGLE and TRUMPET CALLS. Military signals sounded by trumpet or bugle to notify troops of an order to be executed. The use of trumpets, as all earlier forms of bugles and trumpets were called, dates front the very earli est times, and the primary purpose of the his toric ram's-horn and the modern bugle were practically identical. Changes in military con ditions and tactics have only served to invest the bugle with increased importance. Indeed, the scattered disposition of troops in modern battle formations, the necessity for extended intervals in even the smallest command, to gether with the practical biding of many of the details under cover. make the modern bugler or trumpeter snore necessarily the mouthpiece of the officer to-day than at any previous period of military history. The bugle possesses an added importance in the moral support and strenuous encouragement which results from its strident tones. in times of peace the uses of the bugle are far more manifold and scarcely less impor tant. From the sounding of reveille. that sum mons the troops from slumber. to the last note of taps. the routine life of the army post is punctuated by the notes of the bugle or trumpet calling the men to their various duties. drills, and parades. In the United State; Army the chief trumpeter ranks next above battalion or squadron sergeant-majors, t%bile in England he is described as bugle or trumpet major. and ranks as next junior to the color-sergeants in infantry, or troop sergeant-majors in cavalry— an equivalent rank to first sergeant in the United States Army. Another custom, as uni
versal as the use of the bugle, is to furnish officers and a proportion of non-commissioned officers with whistles, by tvhich means orders can be given and men controlled on occasions when a trumpet would be unwise or impossible. In the United States Army the quartermaster's de partment is ordered to supply to each field bat tery two small brass lin bugles, and to every other company two G trumpets with F slides or detachable F crooks.
Bugle or trumpet calls may be grouped under four general headings.. as: warning calls, for mation ealls, alarm calls, and service calls. The `calls' that follow are taken from the Infantry Drill Regulations, United States Army. A prominent feature of this code is the excellent manner of arrangement, by which the memorizing of the calls is much facilitated. For instance, all movements to the right are on the ascending chord: the corresponding movements to the left are corresponding signals on the descending chord; and the changes of gait all upon the same note.
The music here reproduced is written an octave higher than the trumpet scale, and is adjusted to the scale of the bugle.
For further information, consult Littleton, Trumpeter's !land-book and Instructor (Kansas City, 1902).