John Schmitt is a bugle boy, though there’s no boogie woogie in his repertoire. Schmitt, of Baltimore, is a bugler for the state of Maryland who has sounded taps at some 2,000 funerals. He’s also one of 20 buglers nationwide selected to perform at the celebration of the completion of the National WWI Memorial at Pershing Place in Washington, D.C., on Friday at 7:15 p.m.

The highlight of the ceremony is the unveiling of “A Soldier’s Journey,” a 60-foot-long bronze sculpture, with 38 figures, that completes the memorial, which opened in 2021. There, dressed in doughboy uniforms, Schmitt and his peers will play taps and other military-inspired numbers in an illumination ceremony that kicks off a weekend of activities at the site.

“It’s an honor to play there,” said Schmitt, 44, of Cedmont, in Northeast Baltimore. “It’s exciting to be a part of history, especially as a musician. Music has a way of transporting people and providing context for their thoughts at an event.

“Veterans have come up to me, after I sounded taps, and described the last time that they heard the piece — and how they felt that they were back there again,” said Schmitt, who performed at the funeral services for his grandfathers, both veterans of WWII.

“Taps isn’t difficult to play; you don’t need many trumpet lessons,” Schmitt said. “What makes it difficult is the situations in which you play it. You must remain connected enough [to the ceremony] to give a meaningful emotional performance, while staying distant enough to make sure you still sound good.”

A native Ohioan, Schmitt took to the trumpet in grade school, played in his high school band and studied music at Akron University.

He moved to Baltimore and worked for a time doing freelance trumpeting, tuning pianos and delivering pizzas (“a standard trumpet-playing job”). Since 2016, he has bugled for the state, traversing Maryland to play taps at funerals and commemoration events.

He has played at burials attended by as many as 200 people and as few as two. The latter, Schmitt said, was the more emotional.

He has worked in 100-degree heat and near-zero cold, in cemeteries and funeral homes and churches. Once, while bugling at a memorial service in a resident’s front yard, Schmitt was charged by a neighborhood dog.

“The dog ran into me, then wandered off,” he said. “It wasn’t a problem; I just kind of stood there and dealt with it.”