Kevin's Watch

So there is one way that is particularly easy to learn. Firstly, whistling requires a little bit of movement and a lot of practice. Expect to spend at least four hours of total practice. The movement bit is to keep rearranging your fingers in your mouth a tiny bit at a time. A little back, a little forward, and little less pressure, and little closer together, a little further apart, etc...

The basic way youi whistle is to make your middle finger and your thumb together into a loose oval. I have a small mouth, so I use the oval shape, but if it works, a circle is fine too.



Then you put the tip of your tongue against the place where your finger and thumb touch. You want there to be some pressure, but not too much. Just enough to bend your tonuge a little bit (as shown)



Lastly, you want to put your tongue and fingers back into your mouth JUST enough so that when you close your lips together the space your finger and thumb makes creates a small opening where your lips are not touching.





That is about it. The trick is to change everything your fingers and lips are doing untill you find a combination that works for you. Some things that are common to change:

--Shape of fingers. A cirlce will make less space open (because the extra room PAST your lips will be less or more, making a smaller or bigger opening between your lips

--Opening of Lips: you can pinch your lips together slightly to make a smaller opening. This is also how you make lower or higher notes.

--Pressure between tongue and finger. More will press more tongue closer to the mouth/lips making less of a gap for air, less pressure will make a bigger gap for air.

--Force of pressure: dont be afraid to really wail. The whole point is to blow HARD to make it really loud. I once lost some of my hearing from doing it as loud as I could in an enclosed space. Like a rock concert, loud. It was nuts.


Finally: blow, blow, blow. You WILL spend at least an hour, more like four, learning how. Just keep moving parts around anf blowing, untill you hear it go up or down in pitch a TINY little bit. When it feels strange, you're close. Just keep working with that till you get a tone.

Once you feel it, it'll feel just right. Like when you learned to ride a bike. Then you can start messing around with other fingers and pitches.

Thanks, Balon! I'll practice tomorrow--it's the middle of the night here, and I don't think my family would appreciate being woken up if I actually succeed--however unlikely!

Auleliel wrote:Thanks, Balon! I'll practice tomorrow--it's the middle of the night here, and I don't think my family would appreciate being woken up if I actually succeed--however unlikely!

Hahaha. Yeah, that'd be a bad idea. And when your blowing, it should be hard enough that even without a whistle noise, it's loud as hell anyway.

Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely have to wait until tomorrow then!

I will also have to work on this when no one is in the house with me.

Thanks Balon!

It still doesn't work for me I'll need lots and lots of practice!

This is something I have always wanted to learn to do and never had. Thanks Balon! I know what I'll be doing the next time both Beorn and Hyperception are out of the house.

I need a bib.....

So that's how it's done!
Man that would have come in very handy at one of the jobs I had when I was younger. I ran the "Bumper Boats" at a small gaming park. When the patrons would begin the ride they each got to freely drive their own boat and the pond was pretty big and with all those little engines running it was pretty hard to hear. When the big buzzer went off at the end of the ride sometimes a couple of patrons wouldn't hear and keep on riding. Being able to let a nice loud whistle fly to get their attention would have been great but I just didn't know how.

Now I do but sadly its too late.

Thanks Balon. I'm going to give it a try.

Vain wrote:I need a bib.....

Me too!

hee-hee

I won't have to wait to try.
Hyperception's attempting it as well.
He's already getting a sibilance, and he just started.
Like, within 30 seconds of starting.
*sigh*

The only bad thing about this is that just about all of the sound is sent into your palm and reflected directly into your ear holes. I done correctly it is just as harmful as that extra loud sterio you just had to have when you were 16.

My band director in high school was able to whistle at super-high decibel levels, without using his hands. He was a talented brass musician, though, so I suspect it may have to do with superior embouchure. I had this at one time, but was never able to hyper-whistle, with or without the assistance of my fingers.

I have some practicing to do...

dw

I've got my brother and sister practicing with me, and it is hilarious!

I'm glad everyone is having fun! Keep at it! And if you want advice or tips or something, just post em here.

I'm guessing it would be a bad idea to practice while eating?

Auleliel wrote:I'm guessing it would be a bad idea to practice while eating?

Practice? Yes. It'll get in the way.

But once you know how, theres nothing funnier than spraying cracker crumbs over one of your friends, while simultaneously deafening them.

.....not that I'd know from personal experience or anything.

Tip: You might need to trim the nails on your finger and thumb. If they're too long, then it'll cut into your tongue and/or stop them from completing a full seal against your tongue.

Balon wrote:

Auleliel wrote:I'm guessing it would be a bad idea to practice while eating?

Practice? Yes. It'll get in the way.

But once you know how, theres nothing funnier than spraying cracker crumbs over one of your friends, while simultaneously deafening them.

.....not that I'd know from personal experience or anything.

While I was typing that, I was eating crackers.

Hahaha.

Either I'm psychic, or I have access to government satellite feeds.