One of the simplest brass instruments, having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure.

The bugle developed from early musical or communication instruments made of animal horns, with the word 'bugle' itself coming from buculus (bullock).

 The earliest bugles were shaped in a coil - typically a double coil, but also a single or triple coil - similar to the modern horn, and were used to communicate during hunts and as announcing instruments for coaches. Predecessors and relatives of the bugle included the post horn and the bugle horn.

Bugles became more commonly used in a military context.