Passage V

In Tune

Every April, North Carolina’s Louisburg College, normally only humming with students, welcomes a whistling crew for the weeklong International Whistlers Convention. A competition spawned from a folk festival, the IWC has existed for over forty years, attracting whistlers from across the globe.

[1] Since most whistlers aren’t professional (though a few do make a living from whistling tours and commercial spots). [2] Technique, which includes tone and pitch, represent only fifty percent of their scoring criteria. [3] Still, qualifying for the IWC requires rigorous training. [4] Judges look for far more than a performer’s ability to carry a tune. [5] Presentation and performance make up the rest, requiring judges to scrutinize participants’ facial expressions, how participants present themselves overall onstage, and use of lips. (68)

Participants can compete in both classical and popular musical categories. They might, nevertheless, whistle an entire movement from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or a more modern selection from pop artist Beyoncé. Many returning participants ambitiously aim on top of their previous performances with even more complex pieces. Competitors, however, are far from cutthroat. The global whistling community is a tight-knit family, and Louisburg its home. A 2012 documentary about the IWC captures these sentiments. Filmmaker, Ien Chi, a first-time whistling competitor himself, tells the story of a niche group of individuals from Japan, Korea, France, Israel, and elsewhere, whose mutual passion for whistling eclipses language barriers.

One US participant shared with Chi that he had waited thirty-four years to attend the world’s premier whistling competition, and meet fellow whistlers. Others, acknowledging the outside perception of whistling as simply a quirky hobby, described their craft as an art form that fosters joy. Chi concludes that the IWC attracts people who are not just vying for medals; the convention also allows participants to communally celebrate this art form, year after year.