Whistling

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Neil D
Date: 20 Mar 24 - 01:40 AM

Professor Longhair was a great whistler.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: r.padgett
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 05:18 AM

Gossip John (Joan) has "Now Kate I've seen thi ~~~ whistle ~ (x2)

Ray

yes it's a bit rude

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 04:48 AM

This musical omertà seems to have started some time before the mid-1980s, possibly as a reaction to yoof bearing transistor radios in the Sixties. I know I started getting Strange Looks when I was sing-testing my filk on the way to work (if they aren't sung, you can't tell if they're unsingable).

I remember a cleaner at work who sang happily while going about his duties. Some spoilsport told him to stop singing; then a couple of weeks later he was told he could sing after all, as it cheered up the place.

Subject: RE: Whistling - Lyrics - Kevin Baker Superstar
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 02:52 AM

from the late Australian songwriter Kevin Baker - Superstar video

I still hear my mother whistling as she hung clothes on the line
While our neighbour did the Monday wash and sang away the time
Down the road on a building lot where hammers kept the beat
Workmen sang and shared their lunch with the boy from up the street
And the Baker's cart and the Rabbito came trading to a tune
As we lived to our own music morning night and afternoon.

CHORUS - But now you've got to be a superstar if you want to sing a song
If they catch you quietly singing people think there's something wrong
Somehow we lost the right to sing: it almost seem a crime
To share the things you care about in music, words and rhyme.

I hear echoes of my father in the songs he used to know
Of love and work and freedom; the memories start to flow
And my mother played an old squeeze-box as her people had before
And friends would visit friends and bring their songs in through the door.
And no-one was at all surprised or thought it indiscreet
If the friendly sound of music were to spill out on the street.

CHORUS

But now we get our music with an electronic sound
In accents strange and foreign that aren't heard on our home ground
It's slick and flash but hasn't got a thing to do with me
But it clogs up all our radios and floods out from TV
And I can't help looking back to when we thought we all belonged
Before we lost our voices and bought other people's songs.

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: The Sandman
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 02:39 AM

well said, Thompson

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Thompson
Date: 15 Mar 24 - 05:05 AM

It's a funny thing that in modern films set in the times up to the 1950s, whistling doesn't feature, despite the fact that it was the norm for workmen and deliverymen to whistle tunefully as they worked until the radio destroyed personal creativity and made music a thing for consumption not production by the ordinary person.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: NightWing
Date: 14 Mar 24 - 10:19 PM

I realized recently that I've lost my whistle. When I was little, I whistled all the time, could get good tone on both exhale and inhale, and had a fairly large range: 2.5 octaves? 3?

But I stopped whistling for a long time and now (62) I find I can't do it. I'm trying to re-learn it, but it's going very slowly.

Kids: Don't stop doing stuff once you learn to do it! You'll want to do it again, even if you don't really want it right NOW.

BB,
NightWing

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 14 Mar 24 - 08:20 PM

Whistliing even turns up in pop tunes on the radio;
I am thinking of
"Moves Like Jagger" .

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: leeneia
Date: 14 Mar 24 - 04:37 PM

I like to whistle, and Jack, you have reminded me to do it more often.

I still remember the day when I was four years old and I managed to get the very first, very faint, whistle out. My dad was a whistler, and I had the idea from him.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 14 Mar 24 - 04:17 AM

The Whistling Thief?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 14 Mar 24 - 02:39 AM

What about traditional songs which mention whistling?

Eppie Morrie
The Lichtbob's Lassie

Any more?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 13 Mar 24 - 11:55 PM

I used to be a grand whistler...both out and in.

My lips are now so, whithered, chapped, cracked and dried ... I cannot get clear tones ... no matter how I tried.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

However, I am hearing youth under age 20, whistling again. And they are GOOD!

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: r.padgett
Date: 13 Mar 24 - 01:14 PM

I remember those Sandman ~ years ago, never mastered them

Ray

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: The Sandman
Date: 13 Mar 24 - 11:46 AM

https://www.google.com/search?q=birdma+n+whistler+you+tube&client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=09fdf5ad3c7db8b8&ei=k8nxZY6WAeG3hbIP-NGv2A

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: r.padgett
Date: 13 Mar 24 - 10:13 AM

Simply whistling a tune that is popular is one way to learn it ~ I play by ear on 'tina and new tunes if they are "regular" may lend themselves to be whistled and so may be transferable to being played ~ at least that is what I try to do!

Ray

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Rex
Date: 12 Mar 24 - 12:55 PM

I've known Vic Anderson for many years. He reminds me of the cowboy singers from the 40s. Whistling is a big part of his performance.
Play I'm a Rollin' on the link below.

https://www.reverbnation.com/vicandersonwesternentertainer

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 12 Mar 24 - 08:44 AM

BBC Alba - Trusadh - 2016
Sealladh inntinneach air saoghal sònraichte feadaireachd
A fascinating look at the world of whistling.
2 minutes
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04dgp80

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Karen Impola
Date: 15 Feb 20 - 06:30 PM

Like Tunesmith from the 2017 thread, I whistle often, without being conscious that I'm doing it. I used to have a coworker who was annoyed by it. He would ask me to stop, and I would obligingly do so, only to find myself whistling again two minutes later, completely unaware. This could go on for hours. Fortunately, he's retired now.

I used to find it much easier to harmonize while whistling than while singing. Somehow the fact that I was producing words kept me tethered to the melody. I've gotten better at singing harmonies over the years, through practice.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Feb 20 - 01:43 PM

like this amazing set of sounds?

listen to a lyrebird

One thing's for sure: this bird has heard the ratchety click of a camera many times.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Feb 20 - 02:01 PM

Re Ronnie Ronalde, Guest, don't think so but he seems almost as good as a lyrebird!

https://youtu.be/cjUIFYKrtn4

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: leeneia
Date: 13 Feb 20 - 01:29 PM

Well, Guest, you are probably a free citizen of the free world. If you enjoy whistling, do it.

A friend once heard me whistling a little and said, "A whistling girl and a crowing hen; both will come to no good end." I looked at her and said, "Does it bother you that I'm happy?" That was the last time I heard that jaded, hick wisecrack.
===============
Once I was watching at a dance session in a home. They announced that they were going to do a number that had lyrics and a descant, so I felt free to whistle along in harmony. There was a parakeet (budgie) there, and the parakeet heard the whistling and broke into joyous tweeting.

At the end of the song, somebody exclaimed, "That bird! That bird is incredible!" I decided to keep silent about my part in the duet. Why burst somebody's bubble?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Feb 20 - 07:03 AM

I haven't read all the posts, has anyone mentioned Ronnie Ronalde?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 09:17 PM

Bring back Roger Whittaker!
Never been able to whistle that well myself, though will try "The Gypsy Rover" if it comes up in a session.
My daughter can do the ear-splitting 2 fingers in the mouth wolf-whistle, so why not me?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 08:01 PM

Indeed...I know the whistle.

Within the So Cal Barrio the
"chirps"

Each whistle carriers a message.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Each region is unique, but clearly understood.
u

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 03:46 PM

"crawin' hen or a whuslin' wuman".

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: EBarnacle
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 03:45 PM

Several years ago, in the early '90s, Toshi got me to do whistling workshop at one of the Clearwater Revivals. Interestingly, my co-leader could not sing in a bucket although he whistled well.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 03:44 PM

In these parts there is a very old saying that its "uncanny tae hear a crowin'cock or a whuslin' wuman".

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 01:59 PM

I used to whistle a lot. Equally well inhale and exhale, the only real special effect I would do was humming and whistling at the same time. Anyway, while I was living abroad some "twat" started moaning at me about it. TBH it didn't take long to shut me up completely and I have never started again. Well occasionally I will whistle an "instrumental" verse as an interlude while performing a song, but that's not really the same thing. Plenty of "twats" in the world aren't there.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: leeneia
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 12:38 PM

You're right, Jack. We should whistle more. If ukuleles can make a comeback, why not whistling?

I still remember the day when I was four years old and I produced a faint, husky whistle. I was so thrilled! My father could whistle, and I so wanted to do it too.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 12:13 PM

The late Michael Flanders
liked to make "whistling" sound fancy by saying
"siffleur" instead.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 10:05 AM

I don't whistle as much as I used to and the volume tends to fade, especially if my mouth is dry. But I do enjoy putting in lots of triplets, pitch slides and suchlike decorations; and on both inhale and exhale.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 08:53 AM

Got my top teeth straightened in college and lost the ability to whistle reliably. I remember my efforts at learning to whistle as a kid... Took a *lot* longer as an adult.

I can still whistle through my fingers, though.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 07:53 AM

"And I could never do loud whistles with fingers in my mouth either (I could make a decent enough noise with a blade of grass though)."

Same here on both counts. Given the correct species of grass, I can do a fair rendering of God Save the Queen and the Ode To Joy. I'm not admired for this.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 06:30 AM

At village concerts in the 1950's there was always a "whistler" a remember "Wee Geordie Campbell", who was only a few years older than myself, but a firm favourite. He whistled pipe tunes, marches usually, with a couple of reels occasionally. As Andy and Gordon have said hearing people whistling at work or when walking used to be common, now we seem to have an inbuilt depression about life.
I whistle very often from the roof tops....sometimes the birds come and join in......the feathered variety of course.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Gordon Jackson
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 05:57 AM

To be honest, I hadn't really given it a great deal of thought until Jack brought it up, but he's right, whistling is pretty rare these days. As a kid I would hear builders, gardeners, painters, R&B men, milkmen, coalmen (always men!) whistling as they worked - not any more.

I could never whistle very well, and I seem to have completely lost the ability now. And I could never do loud whistles with fingers in my mouth either (I could make a decent enough noise with a blade of grass though).

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 12 Feb 20 - 05:21 AM

I get the impression that the popularity of karaoke and TV talent shows has encouraged many people to get over their inherent shyness about singing in public. Not so long ago anyone singing outside of an actual performance tended to be ridiculed, or assumed to be drunk, but now people are wont to sing lines from pop songs whenever prompted, when in the past they would have just whistled or hummed the tune for fear of rebuke. Look at also at the growth of community choirs, people getting together to sing pop songs, something that until recently had died out with the glee clubs and barbershop quartets, (apart from shanty groups and acapella folk groups valiantly keeping the faith). Or is this just another mad theory of mine?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Feb 20 - 08:19 PM

I like to whistle, and people say I'm pretty good at it. I think whistling can be great punctuation for singing, but I get annoyed when I'm singing and somebody else is whistling.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: John P
Date: 11 Feb 20 - 06:16 PM

I whistle a lot. Oddly, I don't sing in key very well, but I can whistle accurately.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Feb 20 - 05:59 PM

I Whistle on 3 of my 18 Chants From Walkabouts

And also on E-trad "Rose in June."

When I live in Newcastle, there was a chap at many NE festival singarounds called Whistling Ronnie who was very good.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Feb 20 - 05:06 PM

I whistle a fair bit. I can whistle equally well on the inhale and the exhale and I can do tremolo. I'm a bit too breathy. I'll never be on anybody's CD. There's a twat in Bude who whistles his way tunelessly round the aisles in Morrisons. I'll swear that he loses Morrisons money.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 11 Feb 20 - 04:26 PM

bbc radio
Out of the Ordinary
Whistling
Released On: 02 Mar 2018
Available for over a year

Jolyon Jenkins attends an international whistling competition in Los Angeles to meet the people who want whistling to be taken seriously as a musical art form. The competition is organised by the "Whistling Diva", Carole Ann Kaufman, herself a former international whistling champion. "If it comes from the heart, it's art," she says.
But even though there have been featured whistling instrumentalists, in the big band era for instance, whistling struggles to be thought of as more than a novelty act. Even the whistlers at the convention find it hard to persuade their own families that their talent is worth celebrating. It's even led to the break up of marriages.
Occasionally, though, a whistler does make it to the (comparative) big time. Geert Chatrou is a Belgian whistler who won an international competition in 2004. he is now semi-professional and has recorded and performed with symphony orchestras and jazz bands. So - will a new champion emerge this year?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09sqvxt

~~~~~~~~~~
there's a 2017 thread worth reading
thread.cfm?threadid=161764

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Andy7
Date: 22 Feb 19 - 05:31 AM

Human sounds (those made intentionally) can be divided into 3 types:

1. Vocalisations (talking, singing, screaming, groaning etc.)
2. Mouth sounds with no vocalisation (whistling, hissing, clucking etc.)
3. Two parts of the body striking against each other (hand clapping, clicking fingers, etc.)

Of these, only the first two can produce a reasonable tune, but the third can provide a mean percussion accompaniment!

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Feb 19 - 05:10 AM

Perhaps EFDSS should start whistling competitions, with the stipulation that it has to be a trad tune.
0r even better funded the teaching of whistling in schools

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Feb 19 - 04:19 AM

CCE has whistling competitions, undoubtedly some on this forum would condemn this

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Jack Campin
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 03:41 PM

It was on the way out before they invented the CD player.

And it's not that unusual to hear teenagers singing pop songs in the street.

The odd thing to me was, where did that kid get the idea?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 03:07 PM

Modern technology I'm afraid. Music coming at us from all angles whether we like it or not, coupled with the fast pace of modern living.

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Acorn4
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 05:36 AM

Could it be because modern music is just so tuneless?

Subject: RE: Whistling
From: Andy7
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 05:31 AM

When I was growing up in east London, I'd very often hear people whistling while walking down the street, and in other public places. Not any more!

Maybe if we all make an effort to start whistling more, other people might start also!

Subject: Whistling
From: Jack Campin
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 05:23 AM

It has been a long time since I heard anybody whistling tunes in public, except me.

Also except a boy of about 14 (presumably a Midlothian local) who I saw getting off a bus a few weeks ago. Can't recall what the tune was, but he was clear and accurate.

Is it making a comeback?