TRACEY BENDINGER | Culture | Contact

The family of 7-year-old Josie Simpson are mere days away from a serious conversation after she decided that now, out of every other time in life he could have possibly chosen, now is the time he wants to learn how to whistle.

As anyone who can whistle remembers, learning how to execute the seemingly simple sound is an incredibly noisy and annoying process.

It’s achieved by creating a small opening with one’s lips, usually after applying moisture (licking one’s lips or placing water upon them) and then blowing or sucking air through the space.

The air is moderated by the lips, curled tongue,teeth or fingers (placed over the mouth or in various areas between pursed lips) to create turbulence, and the curled tongue acts as a resonant chamber to enhance the resulting sound by acting as a type of Helmholtz resonator.

By moving the various parts of the lips, fingers, tongue and epiglottis, one can then manipulate the types of whistles produced.

In the Simpson household though, they’re not too interested in whether their youngest can whistle.

“It is so annoying! Surely the kid could just wait until we’re all back at work?” pleaded a desperate Janine Simpson, Josie’s mum.

“I mean it’s great that she is teaching himself how to whistle, but can’t she do it in the basement? Or in a park? Or just somewhere that’s nowhere near her father or I.”

More to come.