What is Artistic Whistling?
another brief history lesson!
Can you whistle? These days we whistle to call our dog, or to cheer at a ballgame or concert. When I found my grandmother’s mementos and after much research, I discovered that artistic or concert whistling was all the rage at the turn of the 20th Century. A concert whistler is someone who whistles along with an orchestra or a band or piano. Think of a violin soloist but instead of playing a violin the artist whistles! In the late 1900’s the most popular whistlers were men (same ole story!). For decades it was considered crass for women to whistle. A popular American folk saying at the time was some form of “Whistling women and crowing hens always come to some bad ends.” That’s why I titled my debut novel, Whistling Women and Crowing Hens because my main character Birdie and other women from her time wanted to turn that saying on its head!
Agnes Woodward Choir,
Source: photCL 402 (30843), The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
One of those women was Agnes Woodward. She founded her California School of Artistic Whistling in 1909. Her book, Whistling As An Art, that I found in my grandmother’s memento box really piqued my interest. After flipping through the musty pages, full of detailed musical scores with unique squiggles, I discovered an envelope addressed to my grandmother, Miss Verna Kurtz. It was a letter from Agnes Woodward accepting my grandmother into her correspondence school. What? The school was in Los Angeles, California. And my grandmother lived in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The letter was dated 1925! How in the world did they do a whistling correspondence course back then? I had to find out! I spent hours, which turned into days, researching whistling, the school, Agnes and more! I enjoyed every rabbit hole I fell down but still haven’t discovered the specific logistics for her correspondence whistling school. It may require a research trip to Los Angeles!
A picture of my grandma’s book “Whistling as an art “by Agnes Woodward and her correspondence course
By the 1920’s several women had become popular artistic whistlers and some even performed in concert venues internationally. And most of these female whistlers studied at Agnes Woodward’s school. Margaret McKee (1898-1960) started training with Agnes Woodward when she was eleven! She had her big break in New York City several years later when she performed weekly with the Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel’s Variety Show at Capitol Theatre. She traveled with the Roxy Variety show troupe all over America and the world. She also recorded several albums with Victor, Brunswick and Canary Records that can be found online today. (see links below) Another famous female whistler was Marion Darlington (1910-1991). She was hired by Walt Disney and other film studios to whistle in the movies! She’s who you hear in early animation shorts and the films Snow White, Cinderella, and Bambi. Unfortunately, she didn’t receive proper acknowledgement for her talent in those films or the cartoons until much later.
The 1920’s to 1950’s were the golden years of artistic concert whistling when famous musical artists performed with big bands, orchestras, and as soloists throughout the world. I’m not certain what contributed most to artistic whistling’s decline—new listening technologies, changes in music culture, or a lack of promotion. However, much to my surprise, I discovered that the musical art of whistling was revived in 1973 by the International Whistling Convention (IWC) in Louisburg, North Carolina—not far from where I live! They held competitions there for over forty years, bringing in whistling superstars from all over the world. When they lost their funding in 2014, world renowned Carole Kaufman “The Whistling Diva” founded The Masters of Musical Whistling to continue what IWC started. International whistling competitions are held annually in California or Japan with different levels of whistling—there’s even a teen category. I’m considering attending the 2025 one in Los Angeles this September. Anyone want to join me?!
My Grandma Verna whistling
You probably now know more about artistic whistling than you wanted to! Being curious can lead to learning more about our history and/or something new about current events. We’re never too old to learn about new things around us. I wish I could whistle like my grandmother, who had perfect pitch. She could whistle over 40 bird songs and many aria’s. I’d enter that whistling contest and blow everyone away!
Is there some old family story or something that has piqued your interest when reading an article or book? Try using the internet to do some investigative research. You may find out some interesting facts or history that will lead you to who knows where! At the very least you’ll improve your trivia knowledge!
~Stay curious and let yourself learn something new today!
For those of you who are crazy like me and would like to read more, here’s some links:
Agnes Woodward’s School of Artistic Whistling
