Whistling: An Introduction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Whistling is the production of sound by means of a constant breath of air from the mouth. The air is moderated by the tongue, lips, or fingers to create turbulence, and the mouth acts as a resonant chamber to enhance the resulting sound. Whistling can also be produced using an instrument (see whistle), some as simple as a blade of grass.

Non-instrumental whistling from the mouth can be accomplished in several ways:

	Pucker whistling, in which the air is expelled through pursed lips, producing turbulence
	Roof or palatal whistling, in which the turbulence is produced by air being pushed between the tongue and the roof (palate or alveolar ridge) of the mouth
	Finger whistling or wolf-whistling, in which one or more fingers are inserted into the mouth to shape the opening, allowing a much more forceful stream of air to be blown through
	Hand whistling, in which air is blown from the mouth into a resonant chamber formed by cupped hands

A whistled tone is a simple oscillation (or sine wave) produced in the resonant chamber, and thus timbral variations are impossible. The pitch of a whistle can be altered by changing the shape of the resonant chamber (most typically by using the tongue).

Some languages and code languages use whistles as a part of their communication; this is referred to as whistled speech.

Musical whistling

Whistling can be musical: many performers on the Music Hall and Vaudeville circuits were professional whistlers, and several notable songs feature whistling in some capacity:

	Elmo Tanner, who appeared with the Ted Weems Orchestra, had a major hit whistling on the song "Heartaches"
	Pat Boone does his own whistling on his hit "Love Letters in the Sand".
	Brother Bones recorded the whistling version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" used as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters
	Muzzy Marcelino 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
	"The Fishin' Hole" (theme to The Andy Griffith Show) by Andy Griffith. It has become a cultural icon associated with the image of Andy Griffith and Ron Howard. Andy and Opie Taylor walk on the dirt road with their cane poles on their way to the "fishin' hole" and whistle the tune. The music was written by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer, and the lyrics were by Everett Sloane.