Earn Your Bugling Merit Badge
This page is designed to walk you through the skills you’ll need for the Bugling Merit Badge — whether you’ve never picked up a horn before or you’re already comfortable and just need to polish your calls.
Getting Started
A bugle has no valves — every note comes from your embouchure (the shape of your lips) and your air support. That makes bugling a great introduction to brass playing, but it also means the first few weeks are about building a reliable buzz before worrying about calls at all.
- Buzzing — practice buzzing your lips alone, then with the mouthpiece, until you can hold a steady pitch
- Long tones — hold single notes on the bugle for as long and as steady as you can
- Slurring between notes — move cleanly between the notes in the bugle’s natural harmonic series
- Learning the calls — once your tone is steady, start on the calls themselves, slowly and with a metronome
Calls You’ll Need
The Merit Badge requirements typically include calls such as First Call, Reveille, Assembly, Mess Call, Drill Call, Fatigue Call, Officers’ Call, Recall, Church Call, Swimming Call, Fire Call, Retreat, To the Colors, Call to Quarters, and Taps. You’ll find notation and audio for each on our Bugle Calls page.
Practice Tips
- Practice a little every day rather than a lot once a week — embouchure is built through repetition
- Record yourself and listen back; it’s the fastest way to hear pitch and rhythm problems
- Learn Taps last — it’s simple on paper but exposed and easy to hear if a note isn’t centered
- If your bugle isn’t holding a steady pitch even with good technique, it may need a repair or cleaning — see our repair services
Questions about the requirements or want a hand picking out a practice bugle? Contact us — we’ve helped a lot of Scouts get here.