I’d like to share with you my experiences as a lecturer and teacher of whistling in recent years. I hope you can find something of use in my advice, and remember what our friend The Maverick Whistler says, “Work Hard!! Whistle Harder!!!!”

Interest in learning how to whistle is gaining interest from a wide range of students. When I’ve given my lecture titled “Non-Traditional Instruments in Popular Music” at colleges around the U.S., whistling (or the puccalo, as I like to refer to it) is the instrument receiving most of the questions. Since the audiences are mostly music majors, the concept of adding a second (or third) instrument to one’s repertoire is often the point, as well as interest into how a whistler can accomplish various advanced controls of his/her instrument? Is there an embouchure that develops, as with players of horn and reed instruments? What’s a typical range of notes? What unique qualities do puccalo players have that distinguishes their instrument? The satisfying thing to me is that none of the students or their instructors has belittled the puccalo once they are exposed to its possibilities. This is good news for us whistlers – that gaining respect for our art is possible, and some have made it their life’s work to do so. I suspect that some of you reading this have the same feelings.

The other class I teach is an actual whistling workshop titled “Just Put Your Lips Together and Blow”…a reference to the famous line from a Humphrey Bogart movie. Here the students are quite a mixture from musicians, people who already whistle and want to improve, to people who haven’t produced their first note yet. The later being folks that are often frustrated because they’d love to be able to do what we do. Who wouldn’t?

In this article I’ll touch upon just a few of the basic elements that make your puccalo perk-up and get noticed. I’m assuming that you’re already able to do some whistling at this point.

Listen to Yourself Critically

I think that listening to oneself critically is the most important aspect of becoming a better whistler. Many of you have never recorded your own whistling and I advise you to begin to do so today. This is not just limited to whistling – it’s a general technique that all good musicians and singers use to get better.

I often hear whistlers who are a bit flat…not quite on pitch. Why is this? Can’t they hear what I hear? The answer is ‘NO!’ What we whistlers hear is a combination of the external and internal sounds we create when we whistle. Remember, our puccalo is inside of us…not connected to our bodies from the outside like a trumpet or flute.

Given, this combination of sounds, how do we learn to ‘tune into’ what others are hearing? Unless you never intend to perform for an audience, this is critical. One way is to train your hearing is to filter out the internal sounds and focus on those coming from the air. Recording your whistling along with background music is an excellent way to hear this. But, it also takes critical listening effort as well. What this means is to really listen to your notes compared to the accompanying music. But first you must lose your ego, so you’ll be able to say, “Hey that dude is flat” or “Her timing is off” etc. Usually it’s more difficult to be critical of yourself than of others. I suppose this is a natural defensive quality of humans, but it doesn’t make for better musicians, artists and other creative types.

Another method I use in my classes is to whistle into a tuning device, which has a built-in microphone and can tell you the note you’re whistling, as well as if you’re sharp or flat. This visual feedback gives you an unbiased interpretation of your pitch…it doesn’t care if you’re a beginner or multiple world champion Geert Chatrou, who wouldn’t be a bad whistler to listen to.

Once you’ve determined where you have problems, you need to find a way to train yourself to listen to the background music and get in tune as fast as possible. No one wants to hear someone searching for the right notes.

Shape Your Notes!

The next basic aspect I’ll touch on is called the envelope or shape of a note. Think of three parts: a start (called attack), main part (called sustain), and end (called decay) of every musical note. There is no single best way to shape your notes, but rather you need to be able to tailor your notes to the music you’re playing to. I’m not talking about advanced techniques such as vibrato, tremolo and others here, but rather the basic quality of a single note. Some readers may have never thought about something so simple, but without mastering this fundamental element of control, all the other fancy things just don’t sound right. It’s like painting a house a nice color, when the framing isn’t strong enough to last very long.

I tell my students to close their eyes and do a single long note. This makes it easier to focus on those three essential parts. No note just happens instantaneously, although fast ones seem to, and that’s a good thing for staccato style notes for example. While the quality of the sustain (middle part) is probably the most important aspect from a listener’s point of view (it should be on pitch and not wavering – unless vibrato is used), the way the note comes up to the sustain is also important. Practice getting to the desired note at different rates – fast medium and slow. Normally you don’t want to over shoot the note and come back to it. Loudness and pitch are the two things to absolutely be able to control during this exercise. The end, or decay aspect, is probably the easiest part to do, but don’t forget this leaves a lasting impression, and often deals with the emotional aspects of the note. For example, a sensitive ballad may require slow decays of notes.

The last piece of advice I want to leave with you is to search out professional recordings that use whistling, and listen to them from many points of view. There are many fine whistling recordings available but no whistler is the best at everything. One whistler may be great at some forms of classical music, but unable to swing or do pop or rock music at a professional level. Some whistlers can do fancy effects and bird sounds but can’t do music very well. The point here is to expose yourself to as much good whistling as possible and to pick the ones you want to emulate. Then the hard work starts, but also there’s fun in accomplishing what many think is impossible.

Ultimately, with enough effort, you will develop your own sound and style, and take your place next to the great whistlers of all time. I’m hoping to someday hear a great Indian whistler performing as an equal with Ravi Shankar, Dr. L. Subramaniam and others who have made their mark on the world stage. Is that YOU I’m talking about?

—-

Ciao!

Francesco – The Jazz Whistler
FrankieBMusic.com
CDBaby.com/bonifazi

Colorado, USA

When I went up to perform on stage for the first time in front of some 500 people, I realized how “best” I was, how “unbeatable” I was! Out of four songs I performed, prayer was O.K., my solo Ghazal was bearable, the duet I performed was somewhat better. Even though majority of the people clapped, a few of my close friends expressed their surprise at my low standard. And the last one with the drums and guitar was utter flop, failure, hopeless, horrible. Of course I was not well that day. I should not have gone up the stage at all. Still a lapse is a lapse, everything else is only explanation.

On my subsequent four performances on stage that I performed, I earned appreciation from the audience but again from those who knew me and other whistlers who performed with me knew that was not my standard.

Today I can say that I am a very good whistler off the stage but on the stage I am not able to present my ability. Why? No doubt I LOVE whistling, but I am falling short in my PASSION for whistling. When a person is truly and completely passionate about whatever he does, he leaves a stamp of class in it, when he is finished.

This is not the case only with me. I have found, many whistlers who have whistled with me on stage, have not been able to perform to their potential. They might have performed better than me, they might have been applauded too, but that is not the ultimate desire of an artist’s craving.

Only when one whistles his/her best, to the best of his/her satisfaction and to the best of his/her ability, can one say that he/she has given his best. Also, when performance after performance one grows in confidence, only then one can be proud of his/her talent. Until whistling becomes a reflex action-when one can perform his/her best at any given time, under any circumstances-one cannot be called a champion whistler

Well, why am I writing this? What has this to do with the topic EXCELLENCE?

Let us understand this. The masters in any field are the masters for they have invested everything of theirs- Time, Money, Energy, and laboured towards achieving it by lots of practice. All sports persons, Instrumentalists, Dancers and Singers would have practiced for hours daily. Why only them? Even all those whistlers who have been champions at the annual IWC contests would have practiced a lot.

How many of us (at IWA) are giving such serious thought for whistling? Until we also give regular time for practice we cannot perform to the level of excellence. We may perform well, we may attract lots of applause from people, but, can we every time call that a supreme performance? Can we pat ourselves on the back, performance after performance by just whistling a little on a Sunday, a little while driving, a little while shaving and all this with numerous breaks in between?

What are we aiming at? Good performance and a few claps or an excellent performance and total self-satisfaction? For excellence we will have to start giving more hours for whistling. It is not just whistling film tunes that will make us good whistlers. Only when we can whistle our rich traditional music, will we have really mastered whistling. This is applicable even in film music. We need not learn classical music like Carnatic or Hindustani. If we can just whistle classical based or semi-classical songs of our film with right pitch and rhythm, then also we can say that we have mastered whistling.

Before concluding, let me go back to my case. Why is it that I am not as good on stage as much as I am off stage? The answer is: Lack of continuity, lack of continuous, regular practice. When there is overconfidence and little practice, how much ever able I might be, I will become nervous on the stage. This nervousness will hinder my performance. Of course my confidence can help me correct myself during my performance but I cannot convert my ability to excellence without enough practice. Practice makes a person perfect- perfect in everything – confidence, attitude, quality, and character.

The world outside appreciates a successful person. The world inside me (the Inner self) appreciates the talented person. To gain appreciation from the both worlds, I need to be an excellent performer. Excellence comes with passion and passion is an attitude that we need to cultivate. Passion demands practice.

My dear friends, it is good to invest more time for whistling in order to achieve excellence in whistling and give this rare art – a flute with out a Bamboo – greater recognition. I have begun to move in the direction of passion and I wish more whistlers would accompany me from their respective places.

I would like to end this write up with following quotes:
Old vocal and instrumental styles have few takers now. Perhaps, due to the strict adherence to purity, learning ”dhrupad” (a style of singing) is not easy. As an Ustad (Master) said, “It takes years of religious practice, and about 10 hours of singing daily, before a dhrupad student is ready to perform.”
According to Parveen Sultana, a renowned vocalist, music is like meditation. Devotion is a must for learning anything including music, she added. Through music, anybody can meet God. Riyaz (Regular practice) of music is like a prayer.

Let us give whistling the much-needed recognition as a pure form of art, classical or non-classical.
There is no substitute for excellence.

—-
Jagat Tarkas,
br />
South Zone Coordinator,
Indian Whistlers’ Association

However, your computer can do a lot more to help you practice and prepare for your performances. In fact, it can become your personal whistling trainer.

For example, there are many free Metronome programs available on the Internet. The regular beat provided by these programs helps you make sure you’re whistling with the correct rhythm. Many musicians use metronomes every day with their scales and when they begin to learn a new song so that they can get the basics of the rhythm correct.

A metronome program also helps you to learn how to whistle fast pieces. To do this, you start whistling your music first with the metronome set to a slow speed. Then you set the speed higher and whistle it again. You continue increasing the speed until you find you can no longer keep up with the speed. The next day, you try it all again. You’ll find that over a few days you’ll be able to whistle the piece much faster than you were able to when you started.

If you have a microphone attached to your computer, you can use programs such as Pitch Perfect to help you locate your highest and lowest notes — a very useful tool when you’re trying to learn to extend your range by whistling higher and lower. There are also basic programs (they usually come installed on your computer) that let you record yourself as you whistle. The ability to listen to yourself, to see if you’re hitting the notes on key etc. is extremely valuable to any practicing performer.

My favourite computer-based practice tool is one that lets you take a piece of music and slow it down without distorting it or causing it to go lower or higher. I use a program called Amazing Slow Downer

that I downloaded from the Internet, but there are other programs available that do much the same thing.

I have found that this type of program is very useful in helping me to learn a piece of music properly. One of the best ways to practice a new piece is to whistle it very slowly to start. Then, when you have that perfected, you speed it up a little and try again, and so on, until you have the music perfect and up to speed. A program that slows down music is useful both with the original piece and with the accompaniment you want to use. For example, if you are working with a piece you don’t know well, you can use this program to play the melody from the CD very slowly at first as you whistle along, and then faster until you can whistle perfectly with it at regular speed. Then you can work with the accompaniment, doing the same thing.

“Slow downer” programs are also useful for helping you analyze other whistlers’ whistling samples so you can understand their technique better particularly if they are doing very fast whistling. Slowing the samples down can really help you understand what they are doing so you too can learn how to do that type of whistling.

If the piece you’re trying to learn is complicated, it’s important to work on it in smaller chunks — that way you can really learn it properly. That’s why one of the most useful features about this type of program is that it allows you to “loop” a small section of the music so that you can repeat it again and again. For example, if I were working on the William Tell Overture, I might just work on two or three short phrases of it over an evening, leaving later parts of the piece until I had mastered those first notes.

Using computers is not the only way to practice — but it definitely helps!

—–
Linda Hamilton,
Owner Moderator,
Orawhistle-Global Whistling Forum

Elaine Clark
Sweetones

I was a four year old with serious kidney disease and had spent half my life in hospitals. Because I wasn’t well, I was expected to take long naps. I hated naps. One afternoon, bored and lonely and tired of pretending the end of my bed was a horse, I discovered I could make a low whistling sound. When I showed off my new talent to my family, everybody laughed! Here I was, a tiny girl, whistling really low notes. Never considering that what I had learned was real whistling, I continued casually with the skill, and learned to low-whistle simple songs. Occasionally, I’d show it off to my friends, and we’d all laugh at my strange-sounding trick.

It wasn’t until I was almost 10 years that I finally learned to whistle regular high notes that sounded like the whistling I heard other people do. Until I grew up, I whistled musically using this type of higher whistle but never treated it seriously like the other musical instrument that I learned to play.

When my son Tristan was born. I wanted to sing to him, but was frustrated by the strong limitations of my singing voice. So I started to whistle to him instead, and, as I whistled, I discovered that I liked the sound I made. All my life, I had longed to be able to sing beautiful pieces such as Grieg’s Solveig’s song or Delia from the Merry Widow. These were the first pieces I remember whistling to Tristan.

By the time my son was a year old and I had returned to work, I was assigned a desk beside a man who whistled beautifully — and who spent much of his work time doing just that. I asked to be transferred farther away from him so I could concentrate on my job. However, when that wasn’t approved, I decided to benefit from the situation and learn what I could from my co-worker. Over time, I learned to do vibrato and simple articulations. Sometime after that I bought a book, “How to Whistle Like a Pro” (Without Driving Anyone Else Crazy) by David Harp and Jason Victor Serinus. Occasionally I would work on some of the warble or double-tonguing (tuh-kuh) articulations from the book but never really took it seriously.

That was the start. The seed was planted, but nothing much had grown of it.

Years passed. One night in July 2001, I was working late on my computer on a large project that had been taking up most of my working and waking hours for several months. Feeling slightly bored and tired (not unlike the four-year old who’d become bored during a restrictive nap period), I decided to play a bit and used Google search to look up links about whistling.

One of the first links led to an Internet forum called Orawhistle.

At the time, Orawhistle had approximately 60 members. I joined and introduced myself and truly enjoyed learning from the other members about whistling technique and history. I even discovered that my low whistle trick wasn’t a trick at all — it was the bottom octave of my three and a half-octave whistling range!

A month after I joined, Jay Schlitz who had started Orawhistle during the previous year, phoned me to tell me that he had transferred the ownership of the forum to me and was signing off so he could concentrate on classical music whistling. Since then, I have continued to learn both about whistling and about how to manage a forum.

Orawhistle has grown a great deal since I first took over as owner moderator. It now has over 750 members now from more than 37 nations, 45 American states, and 7 Canadian provinces. In addition to an archive with over 12,000 message posts, Orawhistle has extensive databases on whistling technique and other whistling-related information such as quotations that refer to whistling, popular songs with whistling in them, words for whistling in other languages, and available whistling CDs and tapes.

Blessed with Orawhistle’s rich interaction of performing whistlers, I have been able to continue my study of whistling, and over the past few years have performed in concerts and on radio and TV.

All originating from a bored four-year old girl who should have been napping.

—–
Linda Hamilton,
Owner Moderator,
Orawhistle-Global Whistling Forum