# No more Taps at Funerals **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608 "2012-09-04T02:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/1 "2012-09-04T02:38:05Z")
The state of New York has a custom of paying for a musician to play Taps the funerals of military veterans. In order to save money, the musician will be replaced with a [recording.](http://www.stripes.com/news/us/budget-cuts-mean-no-live-taps-at-n-y-military-funerals-1.187868) Can’t ask rich people to pay for this. That would be class warfare, maybe Socialism. I suppose we will have to start going with the discount coffins for Mr. Romney’s war wherever that will be. Oh well, it is just another entitlement program. I swear the US has gone to Hell in a handbasket. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/2 "2012-09-04T03:19:38Z")
Huh I thought they’d switched to recordings most everywhere. I guess NY decided to pick up the tab when that happened. Color me meh. If I lived in NY, I’d rather my taxes go to things that affect quality of life. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/3 "2012-09-04T03:21:13Z")
I don’t get you. Did we read the same article? The federal government cuts military funding and you bring up strawmen about rich people paying for buglers, class warfare, and socialism. Where the fuck did that come from? It was Dubya that authorized the buglers "as the confluence of Iraq War deaths and the rising number of dying World War II veterans strained the ability of military honor guards to find enough musicians to staff funerals. ". Now we are out of Iraq, and more than half of the funerals used an electronic device even _before_ the funding cuts anyway. You are so damn partisan you are not even thinking. This doesn’t have a damn thing to do with “Romney’s War” (??!!) or any of the bullshit in your OP. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/4 "2012-09-04T03:22:16Z")
Paying for a musician? Hell, that was already a step down. When the economy was good in the 90s they used to book Gregory Hines. That’s the kind of Taps I like! ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/5 "2012-09-04T03:43:11Z")
My Dad was buried three years ago in a National Cemetery less than 25 miles from the White House. Taps was piped in. He did get the flag folding, though. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/6 "2012-09-04T03:44:37Z")
Wow, it’s already Romney’s fault, and he hasn’t even been elected yet. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/7 "2012-09-04T04:34:05Z")
But… Taps is EASY to play. Anybody can do it. You could get a random guy in off the street and teach him to play it. Why not have one of the members of the funeral play it, or a cemetery employee? Of all the things in the world to cut, this seems silly. Why not do away with the gold fringe around the borders of flags in “Admiralty Courts?” Or let one F-119 be totaled for parts. Or… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/8 "2012-09-04T04:44:18Z")
When my uncle (a Korean War vet) died last year, they had someone playing “Taps”. (In fact, the weather was so cold it actually had an effect on the metal of the bugle, because you could tell the guy was having trouble with it) They did the full gun salute and everything. They’d better not be doing away with this completely. So much for “support the troops”. Except when it comes to opening your wallets and actually giving. Better just to stick a magnet on your car, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/9 "2012-09-04T05:40:01Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > But… Taps is EASY to play. Anybody can do it. You could get a random guy in off the street and teach him to play it. Why not have one of the members of the funeral play it, or a cemetery employee? Of all the things in the world to cut, this seems silly. Why not do away with the gold fringe around the borders of flags in “Admiralty Courts?” Or let one F-119 be totaled for parts. Or… No baby, it ain’t. It’s actually kind of a dying art. I was on my (Air Force) base Honor Guard about four years ago, and we had a mp3 player inside the bugle that the “bugler” inobtrusively switched on as he/she held it to their lips. I’ve only seen it played live once, by a family member of the deceased. It’s actually a better solution, when you think about it. Playing it live exposes you to the possibility of all sorts of errors, and who wants the one thing they remember about Grampa’s funeral to be the sour note the bugler hit? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/10 "2012-09-04T05:41:31Z")
Grrrrr … mrAru still 10 years after retirement climbs into his dress blues and does funeral duty with the VFW post he belongs to. Hm, he used to play sousaphone, I wonder if he could crosstrain to learn taps on a bugle. Makes me glad my Dad got the guns, the flag, an honor guard and taps. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/11 "2012-09-04T06:02:52Z")
**aruvqan** , odds are very good there was an mp3 player inside the bugle at your Dad’s funeral, too. It’s pretty standard practice across all military honor guards these days. It’s pretty rare to find an actual bugle player. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/12 "2012-09-04T06:08:28Z")
I have to admit my outrage is pretty mild on this one. Replacing live performances of Taps with recorded performances doesn’t seem like a major act of disrespect. There are certainly other use of government money that I’d be more concerned over. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/13 "2012-09-04T06:21:00Z")
Does it seem odd a real bugler is unaffordable for a soldier, but policemen and firemen in cities like New York get [a team of bagpipers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425982)? (Are the bagpipes only when the man fell in the line of duty?) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/14 "2012-09-04T06:25:15Z")
While a buglar must cost a paltry amount compared with the respect you feel your loved one deserves to be sent off with having to pay out of pocket for that send off or a recording is an insult. That’s messed up, that a recording has been used for awhile makes it worse. Would you pay old high school buddies to come and say nice things about your grandfather for instance or would playing a recording at their wake do? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/15 "2012-09-04T07:09:02Z")
New York buglers charge to play _Taps_ at military funerals? Hell, I’d replace them with a recording too, and then take their bugles and twist them into balloon giraffes. I thought every place was like home. [QUOTE=Fort Snelling Cemetery] Fort Snelling National Cemetery (FSNC) is the home of the first all-volunteer Memorial Rifle Squad (MRS) in the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). The MRS performed their first service in June 1979. There is a squad for each day of the week, aptly identified as the Monday Squad, Tuesday Squad, Wednesday Squad, etc. They can provide honors daily for as many as 17 veterans between the hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (No services are scheduled on Saturday, Sunday or federal holidays). The squad members are all veterans and each squad has a bugler who plays “Taps.” [/QUOTE] At least we don’t have to ride in the same handbasket as those stingy fuckers from New York. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/16 "2012-09-04T07:54:34Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Does it seem odd a real bugler is unaffordable for a soldier, but policemen and firemen in cities like New York get [a team of bagpipers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425982)? (Are the bagpipes only when the man fell in the line of duty?) Bagpipers in NYC are a pest. An invasive species brought over by some immigrants in the 1840’s that somehow were not turned back at Ellis Island. A large part of the cities budget is spent trying to keep the population under control. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/17 "2012-09-04T08:36:00Z")
> [@Lucretia](#): > > **aruvqan** , odds are very good there was an mp3 player inside the bugle at your Dad’s funeral, too. It’s pretty standard practice across all military honor guards these days. It’s pretty rare to find an actual bugle player. Bugles are probably one of the simplest instruments to play, they have no valves, no slide positions, the only affecting factor is the lip buzzing. I’ll grant that for any brass instrument it takes a little bit to get used to the buzzing, but TAPS is what, four notes? five? I’m a bit biased as a former Trombone player, but a lip range on 5 notes on one position isn’t exactly herculean. Especially since the five notes are progressive, you don’t have to “skip” on the way up. I think I literally figured out Taps within 30 minutes of screwing around before my first lesson on Trombone. Bugle is going to be a little harder (you need to blow faster), but not **that** much. I’m not sure you could pick up any random guy on the street and get them to do it, but I’m rather skeptical that they can’t find anybody that can do it. My guess is that the reason they don’t have people do it is because it’d mortify the family if human error happens during the performance. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/18 "2012-09-04T09:16:35Z")
How about Arlington Cemetery? Real bugler or a tape? ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/19 "2012-09-04T09:41:17Z")
It was one of the first things I learnt to play on a trumpet, when I was 13. But - more to the point, why would they need to hire a bugler? For a military vet funeral, does the military not supply a bugler, free of charge? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/20 "2012-09-04T12:10:05Z")
> [@Lucretia](#): > > No baby, it ain’t. It’s actually kind of a dying art. I was on my (Air Force) base Honor Guard about four years ago, and we had a mp3 player inside the bugle that the “bugler” inobtrusively switched on as he/she held it to their lips. I’ve only seen it played live once, by a family member of the deceased. It’s actually a better solution, when you think about it. Playing it live exposes you to the possibility of all sorts of errors, and who wants the one thing they remember about Grampa’s funeral to be the sour note the bugler hit? Everyone remembers the bugler at [JFK’s funeral](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2h3z3Jqqo0) hitting the 6th note sour. “Oh, he was so sad, a broken note just like our broken hearts.” Years later the bugler confirmed that his mouth had been stiff from the cold. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608.md?page=2)