A look at professional whistling
I’m a lifelong wind musician, and perhaps that’s the reason that the fact that I can’t whistle has always bothered me. No matter how hard I tried, my efforts fell as flat as King Julien’s. (For those of you without kids, he’s the deranged lemur king in “Madagascar” who displays his woeful whistling skills and then proclaims his desire to perform professionally.)
Imagine my surprise when I was able to get a low, airy sound out a few months ago. Unlike Julien, however, I have no designs on a whistling career. The more I whistled, however, the more I wondered if there are such people and if I could find someone in the South.
A Google journey brought me to Andy Irwin, a Georgia resident and member of the fledgling International Whistlers’ Guild and a top 20 placer in last year’s Global Whistling Championship. What does it take, I wondered, to embark on such an endeavor?
Irwin was willing to walk me through his rise as a performer.
“I always was the best whistler around until I was in the competition,” he said, laughing at the start of what turned out to be a very entertaining conversation.
His verbal style whirls in, out and around the subjects he’s discussing, putting me in mind of his musical skills. At one point during the interview, he actually broke into how low you can bring your area when the Big Fibbers Stosong, putting forth the brilliant notes and how to temper them rytelling Festival (bigfibbers. staccato trills of a piccolo, and as you weave them together com) is up and running again. I couldn’t tell the difference for a tune. Like so many other gatherings, between his sounds and the “If you play a trombone its 2020 and 2021 iterations tiny wind instrument. and drop the slide, it finds had to be cancelled.
“I can fake a lot of winds,” the brakes,” he says, likening Meanwhile, I encourage you was his nonchalant response to that situation to sustaining to experience Irwin’s soundbending my jaw-on-the-ground amazelow whistled notes. “It’s kind skills at his website, ment. of like bending a harmonica. https://andyirwin.com/, and
He performed Gershwin’s It’s finding those tricks … if you are interested in enhancing Second Prelude for the competition Whistling is really efficient — your own whistling with a piano accompaniment. all of the air is doing work.” technique, there are resources There was no pitch Irwin, a sixth-generation available through the International correction allowed, and he also Newton Countian, attended Whistler’s Guild at couldn’t mix the performance Georgia College & State University https://whistlersguild.org/. at all. He had been scheduled in Milledgeville, and Whether you’ve been whistling to compete live in Tokyo before his band director there, an during your day-to-day COVID-19 torpedoed those alto saxophone player, would activities your whole life or plans, and Irwin was proud occasionally pick up a flute so you have an interest in competition, of his fellow competitors who he and Irwin could “exchange the whistlers from made the best of things. eights” in a sort of jam session. this year’s competition are
“It’s a really sweet bunch That rapid-fire skill eventually sure to amaze you. of people who said, ‘Hey, we evolved into session work can do this online,’” he says. in Nashville, which Irwin still
“I was the newest kid.” does from time to time. When
Irwin describes advancing he’s not behind the mike recording one’s whistling skills in terminology whistling work, he’s usually reserved for often on the road performing learning a wind instrument. as a storyteller. He describes
Harnessing one’s whistling his style as “standup comedy ability, he says, is about finding but longform narratives,” and boundaries — figuring out he hopes to come to the Rome
ACROSS
1 Vet patient 4 Roadie’s gear 7 Twinge
11 Thai language 12 One-sidedness 14 Chills and
fever
15 Unit of
resistance 16 Cuzco founder 17 Roused
18 Fake
20 Hindu sacred
river
22 Obtain 23 Sporty truck 24 Hot coffee
hazard 27 Specifically 30 Flower 31 Round Table
titles 32 Fleming of
spydom 34 Kitchen pest 35 Roman
goddess 36 Like a pittance 37 Dressing gown 39 Scrawny 40 Cobbler’s tool 41 Birthday no. 42 Interstellar
dust cloud 45 Japanese
martial art 49 Kind of
tradition 50 Whimper 52 Pisces mo. 53 Intuition 54 Prepare apples 55 Delhi address 56 Sailed through 57 Sonnet kin 58 Switch
positions
1 2 3 4 5
6
7
DOWN Filly’s footfall Pleased sighs Heavy volume Tolerated North Dakota city
“— -Man Fever”
“Parks and Recreation” setting 8 9
Open-mouthed Microwave, slangily
10 A few thou 13 Tall cactus 19 Unsightly 21 S&L
conveniences 24 Health resort 25 Hit on the
noggin
26 — spumante 27 Pedro’s son 28 In — of 29 Adventure tale 31 Artificial tan
source
33 Mesh fabric 35 Dewlap 36 Raccoon face 38 Injured by a
bear
39 Grating 41 Wobbled, as a
rocket
42 — Scotia 43 Clapton or
Sevareid 44 Bunyan’s ox 46 In that case
(2 wds.) 47 “Jurassic Park”
co-star 48 Geishas’
sashes 51 Want-ad letters