Listen to the whistle
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the whistle makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the whistle belongs to the flutes (edge-blown): an air jet is split on a sharp edge, setting the air column vibrating – flutes, recorders, whistles and panpipes.
More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.
Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.
From Wikipedia
A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. The whistle makes a high-pitched, piercing, and shrill sound. It is a type of fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a large multi-piped church organ.
Whistles have been around since early humans first carved out a gourd or branch and found they could make sound with it. In prehistoric Egypt, small shells were used as whistles. Many present day wind instruments are inheritors of these early whistles. With the rise of more mechanical power, other forms of whistles have been developed.
Other flutes
Questions people ask
Real questions from the Stack Exchange community – follow a link to read the discussion.
- Why does pitch increase when you blow harder into a whistle? · Physics SE
- Physics behind why a bugle can play several notes, while a whistle only plays one note · Music SE
- Why can I easily sing or whistle a tune I've just heard, but not as easily reproduce it on an instrument? · Music SE
- Why does blowing a whistle in someone's ear damage it more than blowing directly in their ear? Won't the whistle reduce overall energy? · Physics SE
- Whistle Physics · Physics SE
Frequently asked questions
What does a whistle sound like?
Listen to 4 recordings on this page. As one of the flutes, its sound comes from the way an air jet is split on a sharp edge, setting the air column vibrating.
What type of instrument is the whistle?
It is classified as flutes (edge-blown) (Hornbostel–Sachs 421.221.11).
Sources & credits
- Bridge Whistle by Delectopierre – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Whistle – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- 218318 splicesound referee-whistle-blow-gymnasium by SpliceSound – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Exolinguistics whistle language speculative sample by Sagenat2 – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q204917 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Whistle – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by The Central Intelligence Agency – Public domain