Homosexual themes in Army bugle calls

by Katie Simpson

Hi there. Just thought I'd share an evil little revelation I had while chilling out in the Jonsson performance hall at UTD.

BIG FREAKIN' DISCLAIMER:

This is supposed to be funny. It's not supposed to be a political statement, or an insult to my country's military forces - heck, I shared it with Skippy back when I first came up with it, and he got a kick out of it. It's just something I thought was funny, and some of my friends did too. If you don't think it's funny, then that's your opinion and your problem - not mine. So there. Nyah.

Some Background, if you're not familiar with music theory

Okay. Ever heard of solfeggio? I know you have - it's the syllables "do" "re" "mi" "fa" "so" "la" and "ti" used to describe a note in relationship to the key of a given piece of music. For example, if a piece is written in C major, C is "do", D is "re", E is "mi", and so forth. If it's written in F major, F is "do", G is "re", A is "mi", etc. (For you music geek purists out there, yes, I am assuming a movable do.)

Now, most pieces in the Army are written in the key of B-flat, because bugles are made to play in that key. So that means B-flat is "do", C is "re", D is "mi", E-flat is "fa", F is "so", G is "la", and A is "ti".

With that in mind, observe the melody line for the first part of the bugle call "Taps" (words provided as a frame of reference):

F F B-flat (day is gone)
F B-flat D (gone the sun)
F B-flat D (from the lakes)
F B-flat D (from the hills)
F B-flat D (from the sky)

Don't get it?

Here is the spelled-out solfeggio for "Taps":
So So Do
So Do Mi
So Do Mi
So Do Mi
SoDoMi

Isn't it comforting to think that our troops get to hear that every night just before they go to bed?

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