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Whistling

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Whistling
A human whistling.
The Whistling Boy, Frank Duveneck (1872)

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 or sucking air through 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. Pucker whistling can be done by either only blowing out or blowing in and out alternately. In the 'only blow out' method, a consistent tone is achieved, but a negligible pause has to be taken to breathe in. In the alternating method there is no problem of breathlessness or interruption as breath is taken when one whistles breathing in. But a disadvantage of this method is that many times, the consistency of tone is not maintained, and it fluctuates.

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. A good example of a palatal whistler is Luke Janssen winner of the 2009 world whistling competition.

The term puccalo refers to highly skilled jazz whistling.

The most significant whistling competition is run by the International Whistlers Convention in North Carolina, USA. Held every year (recently every other has been in other countries), it brings together whistlers from all over the world who battle for the crown of 'International Grand Champion'.

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.

Whistling can be used to control animals such as herding dogs.

Whistling as a language

On La Gomera, one of Spain's Canary Islands, a traditional whistled language named silbo gomero is still used. Six separate whistling sounds are used to produce two vowels and four consonants, allowing this language to convey more than 4000 words. This language allowed people (e.g. shepherds) to communicate over long distances in the island, when other communication means were not available. It is now taught in school so that it is not lost among the younger generation.

Sport

Whistling is often used by spectators at sporting events to express their opinions of the action taking place before them, but has different meanings depending on where the event takes place. In the United States and Canada, whistling is used much like applause, to express approval or appreciation for the efforts of a team or a player, such as a starting pitcher in baseball who is taken out of the game after having pitched well. Often, a finger whistling technique is used to produce the desired sound.

Conversely, in much of the rest of the world, especially Europe and mostly Brazil, whistling is used to express displeasure with the action or disagreement with an official's decision. This whistling is often loud and cacophonous.

Superstition

In many cultures, whistling or making whistling noises at night is thought to attract bad luck, bad things, or evil spirits.[1][2][3][4]

In Russian and other Slavic cultures (also in Romania and the Baltic states), whistling indoors is superstitiously believed to bring poverty ("whistling money away"), whereas whistling outdoors is considered normal.[5] In Serbia, it is said that whistling indoors will attract mice,[citation needed], and in parts of South East Asia and South India, 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 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.[6] This is regularly alluded to in the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. A United States Navy saying alluded to a supposition that only homosexuals whistled.[7]

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 were introduced. On-stage whistling could be distracting or even dangerous, as it could be wrongly interpreted as a signal or stage cue.

In previous years in England, women were cautioned not to whistle, as it was believed "A whistling woman never marries", leaving her to be a spinster.

Children's Television Cartoon Shows

Peppa Pig: "Whistling"

Dora the Explorer: "Dora the Talented Whistler"

See also

References

  1. ^ Tate (30 June 2009). "Things Fall Apart – Ch 2". Washington State School for the Blind. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Daily Traditions". Fantastic Asia Ltd. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  3. ^ "Belide Tribe 22.000". Indonesia Traveling. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  4. ^ GaboudAchk (24 January 2009). "Evil Eye...... Growing Up". Experience Project. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  5. ^ Passport Magazine article
  6. ^ Gonzalez, N. V. M. "Whistling Up the Wind: Myth and Creativity." Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 31.2 (1983): 216-226.
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ Telling Stories, an interview by Greg Davis for Tonic, WUKY, April 28, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2008.

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