To assist you in preparing for the whistling contest the following guidelines are presented by the International Whistlers Convention Committee of the Franklin County Arts Council. Please also read the attached “Suggestions for First Time Whistlers.”
1 You may enter any or all of the three categories (A) Classical, (B) Popular, and (C) Allied Arts. The
Allied Arts category is included in the contests to allow whistlers to add other arts to their whistling.
This means you could combine whistling and singing, or use an instrument to accompany yourself, or to
have another person serve as an accompanist/ensemble/band. You could also use drama, mime, dance, or
poetry to emphasize a combination of arts. First and second place awards, and some third place where
first place is not awarded, are given for each category to men and women. If you plan to compete for
international championships, you must enter both (A) and (B).
2 You may not accompany yourself on (A) Classical or (B) Popular categories because the judges need
to know the purity of your whistling without competing actions such as playing a piano or guitar.
Judges need to watch your facial expressions and particularly the use of your lips. Furthermore, a
performer whose attention must be partially given to an instrument usually includes distracting physical
movements. These actions may emphasize the instrumental talent over the vocal (whistling) talent.
All background music should be instrumental without vocals. Please keep in mind that regardless of
how you might arrange for others to provide stage support, you do not wish to have them take
attention away from you. The objective of the IWC is to provide the judges with the purity of whistling
as a musical art form.
3 In choosing your cassette or CD, please try to have the best quality and to have it free of vocal
background or combinations. They should be supportive of your whistling, but not take the
predominant sound waves. Your whistling should always have the higher decibels. Always set
your timing on the recording for the technician to begin without a search for the song.
Otherwise, you could be standing before the judges and the audience in a helpless manner while
the technician is searching for the beginning of your musical background. Parents could help
their children in having all the recordings ready for the technician. Sometimes performers
prefer to have their songs re-recorded from one tape or disk to another for the purpose of the
Contest only. This could include (A) Classical, (B) Popular, and (C) Allied Arts.
4 In choosing your (A) Classical music, be sure your selection has such definitions as serious,
notated, or harmonically and melodiously complex. Such music is usually composed with sonatas (in
contrasting forms and keys of three or four movements), or rondos (could be movement in a concerto or
sonata) or prelude (from a symphony’s introductory theme or a fugue or suite), or scherzo (a sprightly
movement in quick time). Selections could be pieces from classical symphonies of long works. Composers
to be considered are usually those of Europe and the United States. In Europe such as Mozart,
Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Debussy; in the U. S. such as Copland, Bernstein, Alder, Diamond,
Crumb, and Rorem. If Asian, African, or South American compositions, a professional music authority must
vouch for authenticity of your choice.
For your (B) Popular music, the choices are wide and varied from folk, blues, jazz, country, rock and
roll, western, reggae, and many mixtures of music “for the masses.” Your selection could be from ancient
ballads to the most current pop song. When in doubt about your choices, you may wish to use the New
Harvard Dictionary of Music edited by Dan Randel, or discuss your selections with musician who have
graduate degrees in music. | |
