As we’re Sea Scouts, we use the Bosun’s Call or Boatswain’s Call for ceremonies. It’s mainly used at Colours and Piping Aboard VIPs.

The Bosun’s Call is a metallic pipe attached to a white Lanyard and worn as part of the uniform in our Scout Troop normally by Assistant Patrol Leaders and Patrol Leaders that are proficient in piping.

The parts of the Bosun’s Call are shown below:

In order to produce a low note The Bosun’s Call is held by the index finger and thumb in the right hand with the Buoy resting in the palm of the hand while youre remaining three fingers raised above the gun has shown:

In order to produce a high note The Bosun’s Call is held the same way however the remaining three fingers are lowered over the gun and hole to disrupt airflow as shown:

 

The Still, the still is used to order all persons to attention as a sign of respect or to order silence. this could be for a speach from an important person, to mark the start of a ceromony or to stop work in order to prevent an accident.

The still is played by a continuous 8 blow of a high note as shown:

 

The Carry On, the carry on is almost always played after the reason for the still has been completed. this signals to all persons that they can return to what they were doing before the still was played.

 

The Carry On consists of a 1 second high note followed by a 1 second low note as shown: