ozboy

33 years ago, when I was nine years old I made a promise to a WW2 veteran that I would play the last post at his funeral. His children tracked me down and told me that he had remembered our handshake promise.
I honoured the arrangement last Tuesday. I think that would almost set a record for prebooking.

MJ

Very cool!

__________________

tedh1951

Well done Ozboy - that is a fabulous reflection on you and the faith that your Vet friend and his family have in you. How in heaven's name can you avoid the cracked notes and the emotion in such a overwhelmingly important gig? I am just blown away (pardon the pun).

__________________

Ted

ozboy

It is a very funny thing. The Last Post is technically not that difficult but you hear a lot of guys make a meal of it. I guess it is all in the head and I'm not that deep of a thinker.
The RSL representative told me that they are building a bugle like object with a pre-recording in it. You hold it up to your lips and the sound comes out the bell as they have had so many buglers crack under pressure. He was not joking.
Personally it was not that hard to keep it together. My old mate was a larrikin who lived into his 90's. It ended up a celebration of a colourful life rather than a morbid affair. He had a big heart, a sense of humour and impish smile. If it had of been someone who passed before their time, I might have found it a bit more traumatic.

tedh1951

Isn't it strange, the power of the mind, how much we can simply do automatically and yet how little things cause us to tilt. I have a mate who bugles at funerals very regularly and whilst he is technically a fine musician, the Last Post always causes him some disquiet - not that he faulters, but occasionally he has said to me "I don't remember playing the middle bit?" I hope you can find a way of stopping the RSLs infernal machine - perhaps this calls for an organisation in Oz like "Bugles America"? What do you think?

__________________

Ted

Vulgano Brother

Ozboy, you are cool. That is the highest regard we Vulgani can make. Bravo!

__________________
www.letsbuildhope.org

ozboy

but occasionally he has said to me "I don't remember playing the middle bit?"
This is not faultering. Often the ones we don't remember are the best performances. It is a direct line from the soul without the distraction of conscious thought getting in the way.
Glad you all liked my little tale. I thought it was a cracker. When I got the phone call I was tickled pink. My old mate was the kind where 'a promise is a promise'. There are too few of those kind of people around these days.

tedh1951

As I a young bloke I thought that sort of stuff wasn't all that important for other people - my Dad had inspired such a philosophy in me and my brothers - but for other people pfwwer. But as I grow older I find more and more Dad's passed on that message - I suspect that "There are too few of those people around these days" is something of a truism. Just see how well you are treated here in this forum. Yes there is the obligatory leg pulling and probably worse amongst we Aussies, but I am firmly convinced that there are many fine people out there - you only have to find them. Treat people the way you wish to be treated and "the Great Unwashed" will always surprise you.

__________________

Ted