On Joanie Madden’s album Song of the Irish Whistle there’s a track which has The Otter’s Nest and Richie Dwyer’s. It says it has high and low whistles as well as “air whistle”. The sound is quite muted a little like playing a guitar while damping the strings. You can make out the melody though. Is this the air whistle and is it a train type whistle or a regular whistle that has been muted somehow? It sounds pretty cool whatever it is but I’m hoping someone knows what’s creating that sound? -mike
I think I read an interview where she said she took the whistle out of her mouth and just blew into it from afar, or something like that…
I see… it does sound like that- thanks for the feedback Wanderer! -mike
It sounded to me very much like playing a whistle as a fife, blowing across the windway.
Hi,
I placed the whistle under my lower lip and blew down to create that sound. It was a process I found out while playing the whistle while I watched tv with the family - it didn’t annoy them as much!
Good luck,
Joanie Madden
Yeah, this really works well. I’ve played a whistle this way with my wife sleeping about 15 feet away and she never stirred. Great for apartment dwellers, dorm residents, etc.
wow, isn’t it cool that joanie looks in here every now and then! 
Say joanie, a while ago you wrote, asking what we would like in your new album, have you decided?
best, amar.
Wow. thanks! I’d wondered about that “air whistle” designation, too.
Have heard Paul mention that technique.
when i saw the thread title i pictured a bunch of drunk guys at a party jumping around and wiggling their fingers in front of their faces while listening to flook…
Well, yeah, ok…
But we all do that don’t we? I mean…
we do, don’t we?
…
…
Oh - is it just me then? 
wow is right! Thank you Joanie. -mike
Question for Paul, Joanie, or anyone else who knows:
That technique seems to require more than the usual amount of wind, and is largely inaudible…can you describe more precisely how the whistle is placed?
I can’t answer your question emmline but I thought that as well after trying out the technique. I wonder if the difference is that the almost inaudible whistle is miked to make it… audible? --mike
Works great for me. Are you blowing ‘down’ enough? Kinda like you were fluting?
j.i.
This is the technique where I sound the best.
Tom
This instrument is not a myth. The “Air Whistle” is simply a standard whistle with a voicing window in the fipple, but the labium ramp is not used. The airstream is directed at an almost flat surface across a narrow elongated window.
You can duplicate this feature easily by adding a dollop of Blue-Tack putty (or similar) to fill up the ramp area. Use a slightly concave surface directly across from the windway exit. You may have to extend the putty into the window area for some whistle models. A small piece of balsa wood will work as well if the fit is tight. Play around with the shape and fit for the sound you desire. I like just a hint of sound with the high frequency harmonic “wind” of this instrument.
Gonna hafta try that!
Hehe, and I thought “air whistle” was what all the fans played at CTL concerts! 
Anyway, I hope to see you again soon! 
Lotsa love,
Jim
How in the heck could Joanie’s playing ever annoy anyone?
While Joanie’s playing is annoying family members, the rest of us are commiting criminal acts.
Where are you blowing, emm? Don’t try to blow into the part of the whistle that
you usually would. Place your lower lip past that and blow down over the windway.
(i.e., if you do this with a clark original, your lower lip touches only metal, instead of
wood.)
And the idea is to be pretty quiet… that’s how it keeps from annoying others.