The bugle is the simplest of brass instruments — a hollow brass tube with no valves or keys. The performer changes pitch only with lip tension, playing notes of the natural overtone series (usually 5–6 pitches). That is why bugle-call melodies are simple — only on the basic notes of a chord.
Its main purpose is military signals. Classic bugle calls: “Reveille” (wake-up), “Charge”, “Retreat,” “Taps” (funereal — one of the most sorrowful military melodies in the USA). The British Army uses “Last Post” for military funerals.
In purpose the bugle resembles the surma of the Cossack army (though the surma is a double-reed shawm): both served as the voice of command over the battlefield. In the modern world the bugle is heard at military ceremonies, parades, scout camps, and in jazz compositions (for instance, “Bugle Call Rag”). In film music it is an indispensable attribute of battle scenes — from historical battle films to modern Hollywood blockbusters.
