Silver Taps
Wow… So, I’ve been looking into Taps tonight, since a member of Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com posted information about BuglesAcrossAmerica.org. BuglesAcrossAmerica was founded on the premise that every veteran of the US military deserves a live rendition of Taps to be played at their funeral. Congress passed a law in 2000 stating that every vet was entitled to two soldiers to fold the flag and play a CD recording of Taps. This organization finds volunteers in all regions of the country who are willing and able to play Taps at these funerals…providing a touch more class and honor than a boom box. With the aging of America and more vets dying each year (500,000/year for the next 4 years), there is a shortage of buglers… If you can play, sign up!!
So then I found this information about Texas A&M University and their tradition of Silver Taps that they perform whenever an A&M student dies… pretty cool… It choked me up reading about it while the horns played…
2 comments April 19 2005 9:40 pm | Pepperguy | Uncategorized
That’s cool…I just went and volunteered as well. Thanks for the link on that. 🙂 Now that I’ve moved to the pacific NW, I don’t have the connections anymore that used to ask me to go play for those things, so my bugle just collects dust. Maybe now I can use it for something again.
A few years ago, I read the articles about buglers. I hadn’t played my trumpet since Junior High, but I thought “it’s only four different notes…surely I can pick that back up”. I hesitated, dillydallied, and finally found my way to BAA at the site you mention above.
I played my first veteran’s funeral today. It was terrifying. I was afraid I’d choke, blow a note, or get teary and unprofessional. I wavered as the flag-draped coffin emerged from the hearse, and I forced myself not to look at the family until my part was over. I didn’t break a note–whew.
I was honored and proud to serve.
I live in Texas, and am a Texas Aggie, class of 1990. Thanks for the post on Silver Taps. The page you linked gives a very moving description, but it’s hard to relay the emotion and the reverence of this Tradition. Imagine an entire campus of teens and twenty-somethings putting down their books, turning off their stereos and lights, strolling SILENTLY and REPECTFULLY across a darkened campus. The slow march of the Ross Volunteers echoes through the night as they approach. Students jump and hold each other when the salute is fired, and throats clench and eyes spill over when the trumpets play.