The job of professional whistler is actually a very common job in the music industry. There is someone doing the whistling on movie soundtracks or the music singles we buy because it’s not always necessary that the singer knows whistling too, or even if he knows, he might not be a professional whistler. Someone had to be really good at it to make it a profession.
But still whistlers are not as famous as singers or any other instrument player. Steve harvest-a New Yorker and three-time International Whistling Entertainer of the Year-says, “We whistlers have an uphill battle to gain recognition for what we do, and to have whistling accepted as a legitimate musical art form.”
But still whistlers are not as famous as singers or any other instrument player. Steve harvest-a New Yorker and three-time International Whistling Entertainer of the Year-says, “We whistlers have an uphill battle to gain recognition for what we do, and to have whistling accepted as a legitimate musical art form.”
For the moment, though, most people still regard whistling as little more than a nuisance. “There are some people who are even irritated by my whistling,” admits Herbst. “I had a women stop me on the street one time and she said if she’d had a two-hundred pound man with her she’d have punched me in the nose.”
Most people are not aware of it. That’s the biggest problem. When people say to me, ‘what do you do?’ and I say, ‘ I’m a professional whistler, ‘ they said, ‘Yeah, okay, what do you really do?’ They think it’s a joke.
Steve Herbst, Professional Whistler
Steve Herbst, Professional Whistler
Whistling is against the law in a handful of U.S. municipalities, as it has been used as code by gangs.
If you watch TV, you are hearing more and more whistling in the commercial. Some whistling scenes are also developed in other countries as well like in India, China and Japan.
The residents of the island of La Gomera (in the Canary archipelago on the northern coast of Africa), whistle to communicate across the ravines and gullies on the island. In fact, the people there have developed an entire whistling language ( Silbo Gomera), as whistling sounds carry across long distances better than speech. Now that is something really different and might not have been heard. But what a great way to communicate. Lots of people can whistle since it’s very common for boys to just whistle when happy or ingrost in some work or simply looking at something they like. But becoming a professional whistler is little more than that. It takes a lot of detailing when you try to whistle some song like you have to know each and evry up and down of the tune to make is sound professional. You might have to keep your throat clear and running, free from anything that might affect your whistle. And of course a lot of practice.
It could be fun for the people who love to whistle. Whistle definitely is melodious to hear and makes any song better when used in background. But of course if you are looking for a great recognition like any singer then this job is not for you, but if you want to earn goof then it’s worth giving a try.