Have you ever wondered how orders were given by the officers’ during a typical day to the hundreds of soldiers in camp?  How about during a battle with the piercing sounds of booming cannon fire and musket rifle blasts?  The man whose job was to sound the commanders’ orders was the bugler.  The bugler played a short tune as a military signal.  These signals conveyed the orders during a normal day as well as during a battle where noise and confusion were present.

Please mark you calendar for Sunday, August 21 at 5pm in the City of Brighton Arts, Culture and History Center located at 202 W. Main next to the Millpond.  Master Bugler Dave Pettigrove will teach and demonstrate the art of sounding bugle commands.  This free program is inside the air-conditioned 1879 Old Town Hal now know as the CoBACH Center.

You will know the program has begun as you will recall from old western TV shows the familiar sounds of the tune know as “Assembly.”  The program will include 85 unique bugle calls and conclude with “Taps.”  You will also hear Assembly of Buglers, The Reveille, Breakfast Call, Sick Call, Drill Call, Dinner Call, Retreat, Tattoo, The General, Signal of Execution, Halt, The Charge, To the Color, Church Call and many more.  The program is very enjoyable and reminiscent.

Mr. Pettigrove plays bugle for the Fifth Michigan Regimental Band, and is the ceremonial bugler for the Sons of Union Veterans Post # 120 in Howell.

Dave is retired from the GM Proving Grounds where he used his skills acquired at Vanderburg Air Force Base as a high-speed missile photographer.  Dave is also a dedicated member of the BAHS Headstone Restoration Team that restores broken headstone at the Old Village Cemetery in downtown Brighton.

Enjoy summer in downtown Brighton!