How This Guy Became a World Champion Whistler | Obsessed | WIRED

some people can whistle some people whistle pretty well but most people can't whistle like this in final night so my international Grand Champion whistle and I wish whistlers like myself we we practice we practice many hours and try to attempt to get whistling to be taking a little bit more seriously Lomax is one of the few people who have devoted themselves to whistling at the highest levels of his body his unique sound is captured multiple international whistling championships he's listed the national anthem before crowds of thousands he's appeared on television shows including The Tonight Show Sean Lowe Matt Johnson [Applause] he's even performed with circus away whistling is taking Lomax around the world it doesn't matter what country I'm in if I was a little song it has way of just writing the barriers people appreciate it and it comes across to people when you feel it really whistled and it's done properly it has a way of just reaching out and just going right in touching whistling might seem frivolous even annoying to some but it's impossible to deny it indelible place in our cultural life we whistle to express excitement who the CIL's a train and call our dogs whistling is even used as a language in places like Turkey and the Canary Islands night course there are the beloved popular songs with whistling like Bobby McFerrin don't worry be happy this is a very melodic great great piece the bangles walk like an Egyptian of course the whistling part I would always whistle and the theme to The Andy Griffith Show the whistle it backwards and forward whistling in my sleep and my wife said that I actually used to do that whistle in my sleep Lomax has a style all his own his whistling makes even the simplest song sound sophisticated ok for example this is how most people would whistle pop goes the weasel' this is but Lomax says anyone can improve their whistling it just takes practice practice practice so how she beginners get started the main thing is to realize don't purse don't purse your lips find the location or the spot where whistling is comfortable for you the way I do that only the way I would suggest you do it is to practice in front of a mirror and finding the circle relax relax relax find the circle and go from there to change pitch just change the side of the circle lowlife likes to think of it a little bit like the aperture of a lens in photography in photography a smaller aperture brings in a tighter amount of light and gives you a more clearer picture what it does the same thing with whistling so the smaller the aperture the higher the pitch larger the aperture the lower the pitch y'all suggest practicing alongside a piano a pitch pipe or freak the tuner and you should really do that when you first start because then your notes are gonna be tight they're gonna be accurate and you're learning it the right way and not just by by ear whistling at Lomax's level also takes proper preparation step one apply lip balm I use cherry chapstick but anything is good step two get a peach peaches or nectarines give the right balance to your mouth they clean out all the bad stuff that's in there and you get good liquid spit sorry so a good peach before you start workflow is the way to go hold on step three work out those lips it's necessary to ensure that you keep these muscles and the lip muscles in really top condition and you just do this until it begins to hurt but the real key to pro whistling is breathing breathing is important extremely important breathing is everything in order for me to whistle the song I have to first figure out how to breathe it once I learned how to breathe it then whistling becomes a little bit simpler you want to be able to continuous continues without any blades in fact it's breath control that lets them conquer complex on flight of the bumblebee when you break the knee all air seizes and it's a matter of controlling your breath the trumpet planner for example is breaking the notes and that is what you're doing with your tongue it's very difficult and again it takes practice making it note a little faster each time just takes practice in fact it took like years to develop the techniques needed to perform the most demanding tracks I'm combining about three or four different whistling styles in there when I'm going flight of the bumblebee I'm also humming when i whistle with vibrato the most common style of whistling in the one Lomax practices is called pucker style which is exactly what it sounds like pushing air do post it I call it pucker power whistling because I breathe out the music and what pucker might be the most common style of whistling it's not the only there are lots of different types of whistling there's yeah it's very it's referring to his African whistling this of course pepper whistling that's what I do there's whistling that you can do whistling with the fingers there's palm whistling where you used which I can't do where you use your hands there's a Swiss wing where you whistle between your teeth see I can't get there what lummix can do is his own unique whistling sound there are a lot of good listeners out there when I learned how to whistle I was a young kid in church and I would hear the Hammond b3 organ I was trying to emulate the Hammond organ whether it's Hammond b3 or trying to do a roof in a guitar or something like that I've used the whistle to try to emulate it listen islamics whistles amazing grace with this organ emulation style it's almost like two instruments are playing at the same time what I do is I home and use the cavity in my nose between my nose and my upper palate to resonate the sound the the guy in Jurassic Park had that thing where he blew into it and it made the funny sound but that's kind of what I'm doing is and it just gives it a different unique technique is obviously critical but the core of all Max is whistling is emotional interpretation of songs like his version of Mozart's Queenie the night that's what it says this clinched his multiple international whistling championships you're judged on your dexterity you judged on clarity of notes and you're judged on the piece that you peaked and you're judged on even your stage presence Oh max doesn't just read the music he researches us on what's queen in the night if you know the Opera the queen is telling her daughter that she needs to go and kill this guy and you know bring her a blood-stained dagger by morning it's a pretty intense song and it's emotional song so if you can bring that team the performance it makes for a much better performance than just whistling it note for note in it being right that's very good of course but if you can bring that extra to it also and show the emotional portions then explore much much better winning performance any that dedication and attention to detail that lends Lomax's performances their power you have to practice it but once you get there it's like wow [Music] [Music]

Channel: WIRED

Views: 2,735,084

Rating: 4.9494753 out of 5

Keywords: cirque du soleil, whistle, whistler, sean lomax, whistling champion, professional whistler, whistling in songs, the whistler, sean lomax whistling, champion whistler, world champion whistler, whistler champion, best whistler, best whistling, whistling tutorial, how to whistle, whistle champion, worlds best whistler, whistler world champion, whistler wired, whistling wired, obsessed, obsessed wired, wired

Id: 8XVRpotGsO0

Length: 10min 15sec (615 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 14 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/idontknowanymoreokay]

But can he whistle 15 notes a second?

[u/Nut_Man3000]

If you can whistle slow you can whistle fast

[u/drygulp17]

Funny thing: I saw in the comments that someone said “show thus to Twoset” so Idk if this has been covered yet xD I personally never saw it