Officially Awesome

Two pieces of news.

First, I am now officially awesome: the California Bar has listed me as an attorney with Active status.  Check me out.

Second, I've finished my Civil War page.  For seventeen years, I've been a member of a club that reenacts the American Civil War.  For most of that time, I've served as a bugler.  The problem is no one knows the calls--not even the officers.  For a while I planned to tape myself playing the calls and then distribute the tapes to the officers.  (Shows how old I am.)  Then I planned to do it on CD.  Then I planned to do a website.  Just two problems: (1) I never had time, and (2) it was technically challenging.  The first problem has been solved now that I've passed the bar exam; my time isn't taken up with studying any more.  To be sure, I'm a stay-at-home dad, I'm job hunting, and I've got a three-bedroom apartment to unpack.  But at least I have a few minutes free now and then, and after about a week I was able to get it to work.

The second problem was technical.  Ease of use is one of my holy grails.  There are several sites out there that have bugle call mp3's available; you download them and play them.  If you've got the right software, you can open the mp3 directly into the music software and it will play automatically.  Too clunky.  I want my users to be able to press a button and have the call simply play.  No external programs, no silliness.  There are also sites out there that offer explanations for each call and even lyrics, but no one site has tied all these things together with an easy interface.

Until now.

Thanks to my new web platform Drupal, I was able to find a plugin that would play mp3's directly from the page with no need to download anything.  I've posted the most common bugle calls along with the mp3's, explanations, and lyrics.  There is some debate among reenactors regarding some of these calls, especially Reveille and Taps.  (Was either call used the way we think it was?)  These issues are discussed briefly, but what I have presented is what I think was most likely used, at least some of the time.

As a bonus, I've even included a link to one of the original official bugle manuals.  If you can read sheet music, go ahead and download it.

This site was the product of many evenings of work and I think it's done.  If there's something you'd like to see, let me know.

http://koplowicz.com/civilwar