Whistling

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, producing a pure tone like a sine wave. 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. In particular, the point at which the tongue body approximates the palate varies from near the uvula (for low notes) to near the alveolar ridge (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.

Superstition

In Russian and other Slavic cultures, whistling indoors is superstitiously believed to bring poverty ("whistling money away"), whereas whistling outdoors is considered normal. ^[1] In Serbia, it is said that whistling indoors will attract mice,^{[citation needed]} while in Korea, Japan and parts of South East Asia, whistling at night is thought to bring snakes.^{[citation needed]}. In Hawaiian lore, whistling at night is considered bad luck because it mimics the sound of Nightmarchers^{[citation needed]}. In Scotland some people say whistling makes Our Lady (Mary mother of Jesus) cry. It is told to small children to keep them quiet.^{[citation needed]} In the Philippines, it is considered disrespectful to whistle in public places especially in the presence of women. When women do so it is simply improper.^{[citation needed]}

Whistling on board a sailing ship is thought to encourage the wind strength to increase. This is regularly alluded to in the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. Theater practice has plenty of superstitions. One of them is whistling: in most theaters (especially in opera houses, where the odds are that a catchy opera tune will be unconsciously whistled), whistling on stage is thought to bring bad luck or at least a bad performance.^{[citation needed]} The reason may be that stagehands used whistled signals to communicate in the old houses, before radio links and other devices where introduced. On-stage whistling could be distracting or even dangerous, as it could be wrongly interpreted as a signal or stage cue.

Popular culture

Ronnie Ronalde detailed his musical career in his autobiography entitled Around the World On a Whistle.
Harpo Marx was known to communicate through whistling in both his onstage and on-film roles (such as A Night in Casablanca).
Roger Whittaker was first known as a musical whistler.
Andrew Bird, singer, songwriter, violinist and guitarist, bills himself as a professional whistler as well.
Bobbejaan Schoepen, a Flemish entertainer, singer, guitarist, composer, former actor, and founder of one of the most popular theme parks in Europe: Bobbejaanland was well known for his outstanding whistling, but in the late 1980s he lost the ability due to surgery.
Toots Thielemans is a Belgian jazz artist well known for his guitar, harmonica playing, and also for his highly accomplished professional whistling.
The Whistler radio series ran from 1942-1948. The show opened with the sound of footsteps and an eerie whistle.
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.
Elmo Tanner toured with the Ted Weems Orchestra and whistled in "Heart Aches" and "The High and the Mighty".
Rosita Serrano, a coloratura soprano, whistled some verses, choruses and bridges of her songs.
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.
Indie band Grizzly Bear often includes whistling from their guitarist, Daniel Rossen, in their recordings, such as the songs "Shift" and "Deep Blue Sea."
Michael Barimo whistles for BBC series, Third and Bird.
Sumit Verma whistles for his hit Trinidad & Tobago television show, "Eastwood Parl".
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. ^[2]

References

^ Passport Magazine article
^ Telling Stories, an interview by Greg Davis for Tonic, WUKY, April 28, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2008.

External links

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[1] Passport Magazine article

[2] Telling Stories, an interview by Greg Davis for Tonic, WUKY, April 28, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2008.

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