24 piercing notes: Mike McCann volunteers to play taps at military funerals like this one for a veteran in Hingham, Mass. There is a shortage of trumpeters who will play at services.
Posted on 04/26/2007 2:51:04 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
With a dented bugle, he brings dignity - Mike McCann, 14, plays taps at military funerals, then goes off to algebra.
By Cynthia Anderson | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor - April 25, 2007 edition
HINGHAM, MASS. On a blustery spring day, when other eighth graders are midway through their morning classes, Mike McCann stands with his trumpet on the steps of the Church of the Resurrection, awaiting the signal to play. The sun briefly shines then disappears. Dressed in a buttoned-down shirt and tuxedo pants, Mike looks cold.
He waits alongside a color guard as the family of Louis Giordani, a 73-year-old former member of the US Coast Guard, assembles at the foot of the steps next to Giordani's casket. Finally Mike lifts his instrument to his lips, and the first somber notes of taps fill the air.
The piece is short, just 24 notes lasting less than a minute, and is soon replaced by the sound of traffic on nearby Route 228. When he plays, Mike says he often thinks of his grandfather, at whose funeral in North Carolina he first performed taps three years ago.
That day, as a flag was draped over his grandfather's casket to commemorate his Army service in World War II, Mike began to play. He'd been asked to do so by his father. The older McCann recalls worrying that given the intensity of the moment, he might make a mistake. But Mike played perfectly, holding his emotions in check until after he'd finished.
"Then I cried," says Mike. "I was only 11."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I'm not musically gifted...but I would like to learn the bugle and just those 24 notes.
24 piercing notes: Mike McCann volunteers to play taps at military funerals like this one for a veteran in Hingham, Mass. There is a shortage of trumpeters who will play at services.
God bless him. I wish I had mine still.
My words exactly, but the title I chose sounded more like "dummy..."
God bless this young man for his steadfast desire to honor the fallen...
ping
May God bless young Mike McCann, and may he give this reporter a brain. That boy’s playin’ a trumpet.
the ONLY thing i never took money for when i was a kid, was for playing Taps... there's still a couple guys who won't let me buy a drink in the VFW.
God Bless Mike McCann. There is no more sorrowful and poignant sound than Taps. And every vet should have a military funeral with Taps played and the American people should be willing to pay a trumpeter if we have to. I know I would.
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