'Taps' and the 'Last Post' - how different are they? (1 Viewer)

[OzDigger]

ANZAC DAY is commemorated in Australia on 25th April each year being the day ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand) troops landed on Gallipoli in 1915. The day is a public holiday in Australia and services are carried out in every small town and city to commemorate the fallen in all wars.

ANZAC Day has more personal meaning to most Australians than Remembrance Day which is held on 11th November. At the traditional dawn service, and any held later in the morning, a haunting tune called the 'Last Post' is traditionally played by a lone bugler as well as a one minute period of silence to remember the fallen.

Here is a link with some information on the development of the tradition of the 'Last Post' together with an actual recording: http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/customs/last_post.htm

I have never heard the American 'Taps' played and I would be interested to know how similar it sounds to our US members as I understand 'Taps' evolved from the 'Last Post'.

 

[sceic2]

OzDigger this is an excellent site that contains the history of “Taps” http://www.west-point.org/taps/Taps.html

This site has a large listing of where you can hear taps.
http://audio.search.yahoo.com/searc...Search&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8

Michael

 

[OzDigger]

Thanks for the link Michael. After reading a few links I now know that 'taps' referred to the beer taps on the wooden kegs that were used years ago, and it was a call to switch off those beer taps and get to bed, it all makes sense now.

Taps and the Last Post do sound a bit similar to the untrained ear such as mine. However here are the actual notes in sheet form and it seems that the notes are rather different. Then I discovered that the 'Taps' musical notes are very similar to 'The Rous' which is played at the Dawn Service on ANZAC Day while the 'Last Post' which is a longer and more haunting tune (to me anyway) is played at later services.

'Taps'

'The Rous'

The Last Post

Reveille (just for heck of posting it)