sing but can't whistle?

R

rupert4444

New member
anyone else suffer from this? i have a huge vocal range and can sing on pitch almost always.. but i suck at whistling! not only is my range much smaller (can't whistle high notes at all) but my pitch is so much worse! does anyone have any explanations for this or any tips on how to improve?
 
Yo Rupert! I feel your pain. 30 years in vocals and can't whistle a note. I bet you can't roll your R's either (that ruffles has rrrridges thing). The docs tell me it's genetic, and involves a missing tongue muscle. Apparently about 15% of people can't whistle, and training won't help.-Richie
 
Whistling is probably more head/throat than chest so it's probably not the same as singing for you. All I can recommend is practice with good monitoring and a pop filter.....:)
 
I couldn't whistle if my life depended on it.....:rolleyes:

"...don't worry, be happy...." :drunk:

On the other hand, my dad could whistle a whole aria completly in tune...!
 
For some reason, whistling has long been a thing in my family. When we were kids and we wanted to make it plain we weren't listening to someone, we'd just whistle ! I recorded a whistle as a solo once {took the place of the flute !} on a tune I wrote called "Puss in little red riding boots". It took me several takes to get it right but it turned out OK.
Out of the blue, my son became obsessed with learning to whistle. As a kid I remember my Dad whistling tunes. I've used them on the odd song to good effect.
But one of the places I deliver stuff for work is on this private road surrounded by high buildings. It's like a windbowl. And there's this guy who walks down it in the early hours, whistling. I always laugh when I hear him because he has the loudest most piercing whistle I think I'll ever hear. He holds the pitch well, and when I commented in admiring tones how loud and clear he was, he just ignored me ! But I always know when he's coming !!
 
I've been singing for over 40 years and have tried to whistle for that entire time with no luck at all. I would love to be able to whistle well.

Perhaps it is not a coincidence that I can play several percusion and string instruments .......... but every attempt to play a brass instrument or reed instrument has failed (I can play some harmonica ....... but I will never blow anyone off stage).
 
grimtraveller said:
Whereabouts in Finchley ? I grew up at various points in Totteridge and Hendon and my sister has a house in North Finchley.
Click to expand...


Just of Ballards lane near West Finchley station :)

lived in London for 14 years but left three years ago...still got the house there though...and many dodgy mates lol
 
kcearl said:
Just off Ballards lane near West Finchley station :)

lived in London for 14 years but left three years ago...still got the house there though...and many dodgy mates lol
Click to expand...

When I was a kid, our nearest station was Woodside Park and so West Finchley, being the stop before, is forever etched in my memory as the station where we had to get my Mum's shopping bags together and it signalled the end of the ride and the start of much grumbling as it was a long walk home......
There used to be a record shop on Ballards Lane called Loppylugs that I frequently drooled at in my early teens. I bought 'Rubber Soul' and 'Revolver' from there. Cost £2.59 each !
Speaking of whistling, one of the great whistling tunes has to be "I was Kaiser Bill's batman" by some dude who went by the name of Whistling Jack Smith. Great song, I actually remember it from the 60s. I got a mighty shock a few years back when my son, then 5, completed the melodic sequence one day when I inadvertently started whistling it. Turns out he'd picked it up from an advert.
 
£2.59? wow steam trains on the northern line lol ;)

there are no record shops on ballards now...just polish, japanese, lithuanian food shops and londons worst bars...its the last one that used to hurt me so much!



sorry for the hijack fellas :D
 
kcearl said:
i can fart in tune...when i say in tune i mean i fart a lot...im a vegetarian :)
Click to expand...

Really popular with the gals huh..they can never appreciate a good ripper!

You know if the aperture is just right (lots of practice) you should be able to do Beethovens last movement.


rupert4444 said:
anyone else suffer from this? i have a huge vocal range and can sing on pitch almost always.. but i suck at whistling! not only is my range much smaller (can't whistle high notes at all) but my pitch is so much worse! does anyone have any explanations for this or any tips on how to improve?
Click to expand...

You've got to stop eating crackers before whistling!



.I can only whistle good while breathing in. and only a few notes while breathing out.




.
 
kcearl said:
£2.59? wow steam trains on the northern line lol ;)

there are no record shops on ballards now...just polish, japanese, lithuanian food shops and londons worst bars...its the last one that used to hurt me so much!



sorry for the hijack fellas :D
Click to expand...

One of the Japanese ones is called "Marimo". I have a friend from Zimbabwe with that as a surname and she couldn't believe that the two languages have a common word !





rupert4444 said:
anyone else suffer from this? i have a huge vocal range and can sing on pitch almost always.. but i suck at whistling! not only is my range much smaller (can't whistle high notes at all) but my pitch is so much worse! does anyone have any explanations for this or any tips on how to improve?
Click to expand...

Sorry for being the assistant hijacker :D

I've found over the years, that if I could whistle a note, I could sing it and vice versa, no matter how high or low. Perhaps you could just concentrate on whistling each note you sing, painstakingly, one at a time, if you haven't already. It's hard to know what to suggest because I've not encountered this before and it's so rare that one comes across people whistling these days. I don't even hear blokes whistle at women anymore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top