Hopewell musician & hall-of-famer plays 'Taps' each year at Gettysburg National Cemetery
A Hopewell Township musician embraced the honor and opportunity of performing "Taps" for a seventh straight year at Gettysburg National Cemetery.
"I am honored," David Bufalini said.
Bufalini's bugle solo Thursday was part of the "100 Nights of 'Taps'" event now in its seventh year at the historic Pennsylvania battleground site.
"It is hallowed ground. The 24 notes of "Taps" take on a different meaning for me at Gettysburg," Bufalini said.
Bufalini noted today's version of the instrumental "Taps," the famed bugle call played at flag ceremonies and military funerals, was developed during the Civil War.
"Just last week, I performed "Taps" at a military funeral, and I thought of Gettysburg."
That's why he annually drives 500 miles round-trip to Gettysburg, where President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.
"Last year when I performed, there were two couples from Beaver County in attendance," Bufalini, a 2018 inductee into the Beaver Valley Musicians' Hall of Fame, said.
His "Taps" performances through the years have tugged the heartstrings of people at more than 100 funeral services and ceremonies, often at cemeteries.
"It's very emotional to play, and something I never take for granted," Bufalini said. "Musicians will tell you those are 24 of the hardest notes you will ever play because of that emotion."
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"One Hundred Nights of Taps" is sponsored by The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, Taps for Veterans and the National Park Service.
Every night at 7 sharp, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, a bugle player takes his or her turn performing "Taps," which traces its present-day arrangement to Union Army Brigadier Gen. Daniel Butterfield during the Civil War. An Erie County soldier and bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers, helped modify the original version that he played first.
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This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Hopewell musician plays 'Taps' at Gettysburg National Cemetery
