Whistling

Whistling is the production of sound by means of a constant breath of air from the mouth and/or a whistle.

Whistling from the mouth can be accomplished in several ways:

• Pucker whistling in which the air is expelled through pursed lips
• Roof or palatal whistling in which the lips are not pursed
• Hand whistling in which air is blown from the mouth into a chamber formed by their cupped hands
• Finger whistling in which one or more fingers are inserted into their mouth.

Many people are able to whistle, that is, to produce sound by forcing air through their lips which are shaped to create the required turbulence and a resonant chamber (the mouth). A more intense whistle may be created using the fingers to shape the opening - this allows the mouth to relax permitting a much more forceful stream to be blown through. This type of whistle is usually called a wolf-whistle.

A whistled tone is a simple oscillation (or sine wave) and thus timbral variations are impossible.

Whistling can be varied in pitch to produce music; many performers on the Music Hall and Vaudeville circuits were professional whistlers. Due to the audibility of the so-called "police" whistle, it is used by referees at a sporting event to signal an infraction or the end of a time period. It is also used by police officers as a signalling device, and was employed for the same purpose by US Army officers during World War I.

There are also whistled languages.

People can whistle using one hand, two hands, no hands,or an instrument.

Notable whistling

• Elmo Tanner, who appeared with the Ted Weems Orchestra had a major hit on the song "Heartaches".
• Pat Boone does his own whistling on his hit "Love Letters in the Sand".
• Brother Bones recorded the version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" used as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters.
• Muzzy Marcelino, who whistled the hit theme to the 1950s airplane drama, The High and the Mighty.
• Whistling Jack Smith had a hit with "I was Kaiser Bill's Batman"
• The "Colonel Bogey March" was whistled in the film Bridge on the River Kwai to avoid the song's vulgar lyrics.
• "Whistle While You Work" appeared in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Related topics

• mouth music
• Tin whistle
• Whistle
• Slide whistle

External links

• OraWhistle, Global Whistlers Forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Orawhistle/)
• International Whistlers Convention (http://whistlingiwc.com/)
• The OnLine Guide to Whistling Records (http://www.whistlingrecords.com/)
• The Art of Whistling (http://thewhistler.com/whistling.htm/)
• The Indian whistler Maverick (http://www.dhost.info/maverickwhistler/)
• Whistlin`Tom (http://www.whistlingtom.com/)
• Steve "The Whistler" Herbst (http://www.stevethewhistler.com/)
• Linda Hamilton (http://www.members.rogers.com/l.hamilton/)
• Qingyao Cao from China (http://www.cnwhistlesalon.com/)
• Hylton The Whistler Brown from Jamaica (http://www.geocities.com/reggaewhistler/)