Silly question

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:16 am

I whistle a lot, more than enough to get on people's wicks.

Luckily I can tone it down so nobody hears me more than a couple of feet away. Whatever tune I last played or heard (or even looked at the sheet music for), you can bet I'll be whistling it.

As Peter says, It's half the battle to get a tune into your head, then bring it out on your instrument. I play fiddle so whistling isn't helping my embouchure any, but it certainly helps cement those tunes.

I get my whistling habit from my father, who is always humming or whistling tunes. Annoyingly he now tends to hum in a bass grumble, especially when driving, so all you get is a growl and no tune. Humph. Another 20 years and I'll be just the same.

amar · Post by **amar** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 9:32 am

before i even starting whistling with whistles i mouth whistled all sorts of stuff, quite well too. I can do cuts too, and rolls, by flicking my tongue up onto my palate.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:19 am

amar wrote:I can do cuts too, and rolls, by flicking my tongue up onto my palate.

Cool. But can you do 50Hz flutter-tonguing? Roger Whittaker, now there's a man who could whistle!

amar · Post by **amar** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:47 am

i know what you mean, roger whitaker, that song he whistled, made him quite famous, i can do it too, that flutter thing, maybe not 50Hz though..

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:56 am

I agree, Roger Whitaker is pretty remarkable. Another guy that was just as remarkable came to my high school to give an assembly on whistling. He was blind, and billed himself as the talent that whistled the Andy Griffith Theme Song for the television show. I don't remember what tunes they were, but it seems like I remember that he whistled two tunes simultaneously. Amazing stuff.

Will O'Ban

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:57 am

The Mexican Whistler is the name of the tune Roger Whitaker whistled,I do believe.
Here is a list of songs with whistling in them - I think so anyway.

http://www.moorsmagazine.com/muziekbak/ ... songs.html

Slan,
D.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:22 am

I can whistle with my mouth, I can be pretty good too, but I only ever feel like whistling after playing my euphonium.

That sound personal.

I've been able to mouth whistle since I was about 5. I whistle much like I post on this board. To the point of annoying people.

It's been an invaluable help in playing instruments. I learn new tunes by whistling them. Since I'm not encumbered by an instrument I often get cool harmonic ideas and can translate them into whatever I'm playing.

Someone once told me it was like having my own built in instrument.

My 3 year old grand daughter has learned to whistle now. She loves to imitate Grandpa.
That's why I never play with my euphonium in front of her.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:27 am

I managed to play a few things with my hands, but I never could get the range I wanted. About an octave and a fith was it. About the range and sound of an octarina.

Jay-eye · Post by **Jay-eye** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:37 pm

I'd been whistling and fluting for an hour or two the other day and had to break off to take my wife out somewhere.

As we walked through town I was slightly behind her and I was whistling. Mouth whistling, I mean of course, the same tunes I had been practising before we'd left the house, just to get them into the brain. And it was one of those quiet, intimate little whistling noises like Martin's referring to further up this thread.

"Bloody Hell!" she said. "Even out here I can hear some bugger on a tin whistle! Is there no getting away from it?"

I took that as an endorsement of my (mouth) whistling skill if not my (whistle) whistling!

Ho hum.

j.i.

Jennie · Post by **Jennie** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:58 pm

vomitbunny wrote:Does anyone here do any whistling on your hands? You know, cupping them together and forming an embroshure hole with your thumbs? Anyone even know what I'm talking about?

I can only get a little more than an octave. I knew someone in college who had two octaves.

I learned it on a backpacking trip I was leading. I got stuck with the s-l-o-w-e-s-t hiker I've ever known. My hands were just dangling there...

Hey! I can play the A part of Kesh jig!

Why did I never think to play ITM on this instrument? Cool.
Jennie

boomerang · Post by **boomerang** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:14 pm

A person who can whistle.....
is never bored and..
will always have something constructive to do..
is less likely to be lonely or depressed...
music is so good for the soul,
the great thing is, its something you can do whenever the urge grabs you
My father is a great whistler,
years of solitude on a farm, whistling kept him company

regards
David

EastCoaster · Post by **EastCoaster** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:07 pm

My brother can whistle like nobody's business, little tongue-flutter and all. My father, however, could do the two-finger ear-splitter whistle so loud I thought my ears would . . . well, split.

I whistle constantly, but I'll never be nearly as good as my brother.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 14, 2004 1:12 am

Jay-eye wrote:I'd been whistling and fluting for an hour or two the other day and had to break off to take my wife out somewhere.

As we walked through town I was slightly behind her and I was whistling. Mouth whistling, I mean of course, the same tunes I had been practising before we'd left the house, just to get them into the brain. And it was one of those quiet, intimate little whistling noises like Martin's referring to further up this thread.

"Bloody Hell!" she said. "Even out here I can hear some bugger on a tin whistle! Is there no getting away from it?"

I took that as an endorsement of my (mouth) whistling skill if not my (whistle) whistling!

Ho hum.

j.i.

I think some people have delicate hearing and while they might not complain about a fiddle or flute, the TW is just too harsh for their ears.

pearl grey · Post by **pearl grey** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 1:21 pm

boomerang wrote:A person who can whistle.....
is never bored and..
will always have something constructive to do..
is less likely to be lonely or depressed...
music is so good for the soul,
the great thing is, its something you can do whenever the urge grabs you
My father is a great whistler,
years of solitude on a farm, whistling kept him company

regards
David

True. At work I often have to use chemicals in a fume hood which makes a lot of noise and rather isolates me, because I'm not able to really hear or talk to other people, even when the extraction is turned off. And apparently I start whistling or humming without even noticing. But the accoustics are very strange because people in the next room keep saying, "I knew it must be you working in the fume hood, I could hear you humming and whistling! I thought it was a radio at first!" (Apparently it's also a dangerous spot to have a delicate conversation. One of my coworkers was in there talking quietly about some embarrassing health problems, and another girl had to run and tell him, "Be quiet, everyone can hear you out in the lab!")