Some of the science behind learning the bugle calls

[RJSamp]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/26/health...Most+Recent%29

Turns out there was a 'reason 'for coming up with Ditties to the calls to aid in memorizing them?

[Rob Weaver]

My father-in-law, who spent his life studying communication in animals, was very interested in the communication of ideas musically, as in drum and bugle calls. He'd asked me "How many notes does it take before you know what's being transmitted?" I had to think about it because I'd never considered that before. I came out at "2 or 3." "Then why are they so long?" Distance the call is traveling? The fact that some of those in command don't think musically? The fact that the action taking place after the command may take a moment of preparation?

[Pvt Schnapps]

My father-in-law, who spent his life studying communication in animals, was very interested in the communication of ideas musically, as in drum and bugle calls. He'd asked me "How many notes does it take before you know what's being transmitted?" I had to think about it because I'd never considered that before. I came out at "2 or 3." "Then why are they so long?" Distance the call is traveling? The fact that some of those in command don't think musically? The fact that the action taking place after the command may take a moment of preparation?

Distance and preparation strike me as two explanations. It might take just two or three notes to recognize the call if you are waiting attentively in silence to hear it. But if you have three or four hundred men busy with something else, it helps to have a longer call.

The speed of sound has an effect too. Although it may only take a fraction of a second from a command to travel from the center of a battalion to the flanks, there's still a delay. Look at this video of the 15th Iowa at Shiloh firing a volley (it's about 2:48 in) -- we had at least 350 on the field there, and the volley clearly bursts out from the center, dissipating in scattered shots on the flank from those who didn't hear the verbal order at all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v0SL...&feature=share

The length of the calls also seems to vary according to the complexity of the action or, as you said, preparation. "Halt" is very short, the calls for commencing or ceasing fire somewhat longer, and advancing and skirmishing longer still, and camp calls the longest of all.

Or maybe it just seems that way.

[RJSamp]

You both bring up interesting observations that our bugler corps has 'noted': namely recognition of calls in the field (the ditties are generally for the camp calls (see Billings), and many of the ditties for the skirmisher calls were made up by yours truly). Over distance, Backgound noise increases, calls bend up due to the ground, volume drops, pitch attenuates lower. At Gettysburg 135 a mounted bugler sent me a call....into the wind and towards the enemy fires.....I was on the skirmish line working on my own piece as well. I literally only heard 4 notes of the call: EE, CC from the middle of the call. From that I was able to figure out that this meant TO HORSE, retire back to the horses. It's the only call that has those note pairings. Fort Donelson (Twin Rivers) Sunday battle calls at 200 yards on a field Trumpet (like what the Cavalry or Artillery used) were not hearable, period. At Shiloh 150 the WIG buglers couldn't hear repeated calls from 50-100 yards away, such was the volume of fires from the 15th Iowa and a nearby treeline (which bounces calls off of it). The echo chamber in the Hornet's Nest woods was such that you couldn't hear yourself talk, much less a bugle call, as the trees and terrain bounced the thousands of musket reports off of your ears. And finally, a 'quiet' situation (albeit windy) with CSA fires off to the North yielded a startling find: higher pitched notes were readily discernible, lower pitched notes couldn't be recognized. This from an accomplished bugler\trumpet player who was anticipating the call.

We've already done the half the speed, double the volume routine with all field bugle calls (learned from the To Horse G135 scenario). Now we're thinking seriously about using C Bugles, as they did. They had pigtail crooks that dropped the pitch of the bugles from C to Bb. Most of the pictures you see don't have the crook.....Charles Perkins diary says he sent his home for safekeeping...I only heard the higher well spaced notes of To Horse, and a bugler at Shiloh at 400 yards only heard the higher notes. Libby Custer recognized the difference between the 'alto trumpets' versus the soprano bugles in Lie on the Plains'.

So maybe we're on to something.....

The calls in camp are prettier, less utilitarian, more of a melody, than most of the field calls. The Brits use Eb Trumpets in camp, allowing some of the duty calls to actually play notes in the higher ranges. The Bb Duty Bugles, on the other hand, are used for mounted \ battle duty.....higher pitched, simpler calls, more carrying power than an Eb Trumpet and the ceremonial or camp duty calls.

I don't think there's any reasoning behind the length of the call and the complexity of the action or the preparation......but it sure helps to have the Forward as long as it is for the Captains in the left most companies! The Gait calls (drill call which used to be the common step prior to Hardee's 1855 manual), Quickstep, Double Quick, the Charge....are actually bugle marches.....and you don't wait for the call to end to carry out the command.

We've had buglers anticipate the FORWARD call.....only to find out that the call was actually Forward By the Right\Left Flank. (starts out the same as Forward, adds the direction signals on the end). Many calls (the rallies, the wheels) sound the same, and only change what you are to do on the last notes.....so there is no way to identify Rally on the Battalion from 2,3 or even 12 notes (you can identify it as 'a' Rally in 3 or 4 notes for sure)!

The charge of the 6th Wisconsin at the RR Cut, July 1st 1863 Gettysburg was a V with the Flag and Colonel at the point.....and the Brigade Guard on the wings and well behind the colors. Voice and bugle commands are recognized (usually) by nearer listeners.....and it only follows that volleys and evolutions begin nearest the emanating point.

Good stuff guys!

[13thrustler]

I love the science aspect of the discussion. Could you then make the argument that having a bugle in C on the field be more effective, and utilizing the Eb in camp? It would be a pain, though. I've tried several different mouthpiece sizes as well and may sometimes get a tone that I believe might make some bit of difference.

Back to the question on how many notes before knowing what's transmitted. I believe for the regular Joe Schmoe who isn't musically inclined, it would mean recognizing a particular tone, not necessarily a number of notes. I can say that when I was learning the calls, the ditties I would hear in my head as I was playing the calls and still do....so there may be something there, too. The ditties, in conjunction with hearing the call or reading the music, help in remembering how the calls start. Once I remember how it starts the rest is history. So maybe a combination??

[Rob Weaver]

I tend to notice the patterning in calls, also. How hard is it to pick up a pigtail? My bugle is in C, so if I try to play with Bb buglers, it sounds like an 18-wheeler just rolled through.

[hiplainsyank]

When my battalion was changing at Shiloh, between the firing of nearby battalions and their yelling they could not hear Halt, even though I played it over and over again. A short call but with all the noise and their excitement, even though that was about the only call many of them recognized, they still didn't hear it. It was the first time I saw the bugle drowned out before! And a fascinating piece of experimental archaeology!

[flattop32355]

Back to the question on how many notes before knowing what's transmitted. I believe for the regular Joe Schmoe who isn't musically inclined, it would mean recognizing a particular tone, not necessarily a number of notes. I can say that when I was learning the calls, the ditties I would hear in my head as I was playing the calls and still do....so there may be something there, too. The ditties, in conjunction with hearing the call or reading the music, help in remembering how the calls start. Once I remember how it starts the rest is history. So maybe a combination??

Being a musical illiterate, I've had to learn the calls by rote. This occurred as a combination of repeated playings of the calls, and of adding the jingles/ditties (some of RJ's, some of my own).

There was a good space of time at the beginning in which the calls were nothing more than jumbles of notes. Finally, they began to jell into specific individuals, most with their own personalities, if you will (the triple tongue of the Dinner Call, for example, or the wild gyrations of 1st Sergeants Call). Add to that the beginning notes caused a conditioned response of recognizing and mentally singing the jingles, which included the name or purpose of the call early on (Breakfast Call: Booooys....Come and get your food!)

Even today, after about three years of study and playing the Infantry Calls on trips to events, etc, I can still sometimes hear The Assembly and think "What the **** was that call?" It can be a never ending lesson, since we don't have the "luxury" of having to listen to these calls every day like the originals did.

Most of the longer calls can be "learned" without knowing the full calls, the exceptions being the ones with shared beginning phrases.
And let us not forget that many of the camp calls came at specific times of the day, and in sequence.