{"id":38790,"date":"2021-11-11T12:37:05","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T17:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=38790"},"modified":"2021-12-01T08:32:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T13:32:48","slug":"taps-project-provides-special-moment-for-veterans-and-musicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/taps-project-provides-special-moment-for-veterans-and-musicians\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Taps’ Project provides special moment for veterans and musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“The military is huge in my family,” says Tizzy Smith.<\/p><\/div>\n

Trumpet players from across greater Chattanooga took part in the annual University of Tennessee at Chattanooga \u201cTaps\u201d Project to thank armed forces veterans for their service as part of a Veterans Day tribute.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s event featured 19 participants, including UTC students, high school students, teachers, professionals, veterans and community members.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the strategic placement of trumpet players across UTC, \u201cTaps\u201d steadily made its way across campus from player to player, the haunting melody gradually flowing through campus, echoing between building walls.<\/p>\n

The first player, UTC fourth-year student Asher Isaac, presented \u201cTaps\u201d at 10:35 a.m. The second, Erika Schafer, associate professor of trumpet and assistant director of bands at UTC, began once Isaac had arrived at the piece\u2019s third statement.<\/p>\n

It was Isaac\u2019s third time participating in the \u201cTaps\u201d project.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a part of this is something that\u2019s greater than myself, let alone to be the person to start it,\u201d said Isaac, a music composition major. \u201cI\u2019ve never been the first person, and I was a little bit nervous, but Dr. Schafer had faith in me to give it a nice strong start.”<\/p>\n

Freshman music education major Preston Johnson, a tuba player in the UTC Marching Mocs who also plays trumpet, was lined up outside the Fine Arts Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was surreal. It was exciting to be able to stand there and play such a beautiful tune,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI played trumpet for about seven years in middle and high school, but I\u2019ve never had an opportunity quite like this. It was definitely something special and something to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTaps\u201d had special meaning to the last player, sophomore music performance major Tizzy Smith, who was positioned adjacent to the Chamberlain Field \u201cPower C\u201d and was last to play.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s brother, Elijah Henry, serves in the U.S. Navy, and his late grandfather and great-grandfather were veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept thinking about my grandfather (Joseph Smith) while I did it because he passed away, and I was remembering how I got to play \u2018Taps\u2019 for him as well before he passed,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe military is huge in my family, so it is a huge honor doing this. I\u2019m so glad that I got to end it and be the last person to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schafer, who coordinated the event, called it a perfect day for \u201cTaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot too cold, not too hot, not raining but overcast. That\u2019s always nice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a veteran myself. I was in the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C., for seven years and I was doing the math,” Schafer said. “I think that I performed \u2018Taps\u2019 somewhere around 600 or 700 times total in my time there.<\/p>\n

“Most of those were at Arlington Cemetery in any and all conditions. When the weather was bad, they might cancel the band; but the trumpeter, you always have to have \u2018Taps.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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