Buglers sought for global ‘Taps’
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 15, 2007 10:17:38 EDT

Organizers are still looking for a few more good buglers for an Armed Forces Day event in which more than 2,000 volunteers will take part in a worldwide performance of “Taps.”

The event, called Echo Taps Worldwide, will have players form a line through U.S. veterans’ cemeteries in the U.S. and overseas to play a cascading version of the song.

The first Echo Taps event was in 2005 when 674 buglers from 30 states lined 42 miles of roadway between the Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira, N.Y., and the Bath National Cemetery in Bath, N.Y. For almost three hours, “Taps” was played in a performance that began in Elmira and ended in Bath.

The VA’s National Cemetery Administration and Bugles Across America, a organization formed in 2000 that has about 5,000 volunteers who play at veterans’ funerals, are organizing the event that includes schools, veterans’ groups, professional and amateur musicians and military band members taking part.

For 2007, about 90 percent of national and cemeteries in the U.S. and overseas have at least one bugler committed to play “Taps” on May 19, Armed Forces Day, but volunteers are still being sought. Some cemeteries expect large crowds of buglers but there are 13 that have no one to play.

There is no age limit. A volunteer must have a brass bugle and be able to play “Taps” in public. Digital bugles are not allowed.

Auditions will be held on the day of the event. More information and a sign up sheet are available at www.echotaps.org, but walk-ons are allowed the morning of the performance.

Ellie