Whistling

A metal whistle

Human whistling is the production of sound by means of carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small hole. Whistling can be achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips and then blowing air out of the hole or sucking air into the hole. The air is moderated by the lips, tongue, teeth or fingers (placed over the mouth) to create turbulence, and the mouth acts as a resonant chamber to enhance the resulting sound by acting as a type of Helmholtz resonator. Whistling can also be produced by blowing air through enclosed, cupped hands or through an external instrument, such as a whistle or even a blade of grass or leaf.

Musical/melodic whistling

Whistling can be musical: many performers on the music hall and Vaudeville circuits were professional whistlers, the most famous of which were Ronnie Ronalde and Fred Lowery. Both had several notable songs featuring whistling.

Pucker whistling is the most common form of whistling used in most Western music. Typically, the tongue tip is lowered, often placed behind the lower teeth, and pitch altered by varying the position of the tongue body. In particular, the point at which the dorsum of the tongue approximates the palate varies from near the uvula (for low notes) to near the alveolar ridges (for high notes). Although varying the degree of pucker will change the pitch of a pucker whistle, expert pucker whistlers will generally only make small variations to the degree of pucker, due to its tendency to affect purity of tone.

By contrast, many expert musical palatal whistlers will substantially alter the position of the lips to ensure a good quality tone. Venetian gondoliers are famous for moving the lips while they whistle in a way that can look like singing.

The term puccalo refers to jazz whistling.

Functional Whistling

Apart from being used as simply a method of calling the attention of another (or others), or a musical endeavour, whistling has long been used as a specialized communication between laborers. For example, whistling in theatre, particularly on-stage, is used by flymen to cue the lowering or raising of a batten pipe or flat. This method of communication became popular before the invention of electronic means of communication, and is still in use, primarily in older "hemp" houses during the set and strike of a show. Traditionally, sailors were often used as stage technicians, working with the complicated rope systems associated with flying. Coded whistles would be used to call cues, so it is thought that whistling on-stage may cause, for example, a cue to come early, a "sailor's ghost" to drop a set-piece on top of an actor, or general bad luck in the performance.

Popular culture

• 3OH!3 uses a "good look" whistle in the verses of their song, Starstrukk
• Ronnie Ronalde detailed his musical career in his autobiography entitled Around the World On a Whistle.
• Fred Lowery (also known as "The Blind Whistler") detailed his musical career in his autobiography entitled Whistling In the Dark.
• Roger Whittaker was first known as a musical whistler.
• The movie Kill Bill features Elle Driver whistling the same unnerving tune as from the 1968 film Twisted Nerve.
• Andrew Bird, singer, songwriter, violinist and guitarist, bills himself as a professional whistler as well.
• Ilse Werner, German singer and actress, was especially known for her whistling.
• Bobbejaan Schoepen, a Flemish entertainer, singer, guitarist, composer, former actor, and founder of one of the most popular theme parks in Europe: Bobbejaanland. Bobbejaan is well known for his outstanding whistling, but in the late 1980s he lost his whistle gift due to an surgery intervention. (in the 1960s Ilse Werner performed in his shows in the Bobbejaanland park)
• Toots Thielemans is a Belgian jazz artist well known for his guitar, harmonica playing, and also for his highly accomplished professional whistling.
• Claude Debussy was going to write the role of the Devil for a whistler in his opera The Devil in the Belfry, but the work was left unfinished.
• The Goon Show "The Whistling Spy Enigma" Series 5, Episode 1. First broadcast on September 28, 1954
• The Whistler radio series ran from 1942-1948. The show opened with the sound of footsteps and an eerie whistle.
• Robert Stemmons plays The Loyal Whistler in Cirque du Soleil's touring show Corteo. He has also created a series of popular training CD's, "The Whistler's Whistling Workout for Birds", for teaching exotic birds to whistle musically.
• Bing Crosby whistled and trilled in some of his songs, including White Christmas. He could imitate a birdcall and then riff on it with a swing styling.
• Les Paul whistled and was capable of duotone^{[citation needed]}.
• Elmo Tanner toured with the Ted Weems Orchestra and whistled in "Heart Aches" and "The High and the Mighty"
• Neil Sedaka whistles the instrumental break on Pat Boone's "Love Letters in the Sand", with Boone sometimes interjecting "You didn't think it was me, did you?" in live performances
• Axl Rose of Guns N Roses whistles at the beginning of "Patience" (1988).
• Louis Armstrong rarely whistled in recordings but was very skillful when he did.
• Ron McCroby 1934-2002, jazz whistler.
• Brother Bones 1903-1974, had a big hit with "Sweet Georgia Brown" which is still used as the warm up music of the Harlem Globetrotters.
• Otis Redding uses whistling to conclude his 1968 hit single, "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay."
• The Highwaymen whistle at both the beginning and ending of their 1961 #1 hit "Michael Row the Boat Ashore".
• Other tunes featuring whistling are among other: "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" by Monty Python, "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin, "Games Without Frontiers" by Peter Gabriel, "Jealous Guy" by John Lennon, "Lazy Sunday" by The Small Faces, "Me Myself & I" by De La Soul, "Wind Of Change" by the Scorpions, "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" by Whistling Jack Smith, "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John, "Guyute" by Phish, "'Till the End of Time" by DeVotchKa, "Dom Andra" by Kent, "Walk Like An Egyptian" by Bangles, "Love Generation" by Bob Sinclair, "Engel" by Rammstein, "There It Go (The Whistle Song)" by Juelz Santana, and "Twisted Nerve" by Bernard Herrmann.
• Indie band Grizzly Bear often includes whistling from their guitarist, Daniel Rossen, in their recordings, such as the songs "Shift" and "Deep Blue Sea."
• Billy Joel whistles at the beginning and end of his song The Stranger.
• Air has a whistling track Alpha Beta Gaga on the album Talkie Walkie.
• Venkatesh Guntur has a rare talent of whistling Indian classical and Indian movie songs .
• Hoagy Carmichael Whistled in Ole Man Harlem and others too.
• Michael Barimo whistles for BBC series, Third and Bird
• Jason Victor Serinus whistled Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" as "The Voice of Woodstock" in the Emmy-nominated Peanuts cartoon, She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown.
• Gigi D'Agostino in the song "Music", from the album L'Amour Toujours.
• Richard Z. Kruspe, lead guitarist of Rammstein whistles extensively at the beginning of their song Engel
• Andy Offutt Irwin, storyteller, singer-songwriter, and humorist, is able to whistle on both inhalation and exhalation, allowing him to whistle without appearing to take a breath for a minute and a half. Irwin whistling can be heard on his solo performances and albums, but also in appearances with the chamber music group, The Kandinsky Trio. ^[1]
• Al Jolson whistled frequently in his songs. A particularly well known example is during the song "Toot Toot Tootsie, Goodbye".

Superstition

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009)

In Russian and other Slavic cultures, whistling indoors is superstitiously believed to bring poverty ("whistling money away"), whereas whistling outdoors is considered normal. ^[2]

In Serbia, it is said that whistling indoors will attract mice,^{[citation needed]} while in Korea and Japan, whistling is thought to bring snakes.^{[citation needed]}

Whistling on board a sailing ship is thought to encourage the wind strength to increase. This is regularly alluded to the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian.

In Hawaiian lore, whistling at night is considered bad luck because it mimics the sound of Nightmarchers.

See also

• Whistled language
• Puccalo
• Mouth music
• Tin whistle
• Slide whistle
• Wolf-whistling

• Irish whistling champions
• Pucker Up: The Fine Art of Whistling - documentary

References

External links

• "Finally, whistling is cool again", Boston Globe, August 27, 2007
• International Whistlers Convention Main Louisburg Website
• International Whistlers Convention 2008 in Japan Website
• Northern Nightingale site with whistling lessons and links to other whistlers' sites
• Whistling in Antiquity (PDF) by A V van Stekelenburg (University of Stellenbosch)
• Indian Whistlers Association (IWA)Website
• Biography page of whistling performer Robert Stemmons with links to other whistlers sites