You know when you’re standing in line for a 30 minute wait at a restaurant or are in a long line for tickets or something? Have any of you ever pulled out the whistle and played? I’m not nearly good enough to do that, but today I was in line and I wondered if I would have the nerve to do it. I wondered if people would enjoy it or if it would be annoying. If you’ve done it, tell us how it was received.
Ooh, I’ve wanted to do that but always chicken out. Once I was waiting for a bus on campus and played a bit, but someone else came into the bus stop and I put it away at the end of the song.
buk buk bukaw
don’t feel bad. I won’t even play if I know my own mother is within earshot…
When I was in high school, I used to play while I was waiting for the bus (my high school was downtown, so I rode a city bus). Not sure I’d have the nerve to do that anymore 
. Still, if I were to play in the movie line in downtown Santa Cruz, there’s always the chance I could make the price of my movie ticket (compared to some of the buskers down there, I’m not half bad).
Redwolf
Sounds like a good way to get hurt. I mean, people are often cranky enough because they are in a line to begin with. I am familiar with the fantasy however and have wanted to open up at Costco.
One of my ponderous crackpot theories is that we live in a vast Passive-Agressive Society. People take amazing amounts of abuse from govt. via civil liberties deprivations, price fixing of utilites, gas and just tons of other ways but they just sit on the couch watching the rude one-eyed cousin in the corner and swallow Prozac or some other chemical (legal or not). Then they go ballistic because somebody cuts em off on the freeway. That what “road rage” represents to me. Powerless people suddenly discovering pools of rage from living lives controlled by others.
So in some of the lines I am in, it might result in catastrophe but ya never know…
As they say to the police, wear a vest!
If you proceed, I will look for the mention in Dear Abby/Ann Landers…or maybe Miss Manners.
It might actually serve to quell “line rage” a bit…this is what the people at Disney do to keep people from nutzing out on the hour long lines for Space Mountain. They have strolling entertainers, video screens to occupy the patrons, and it makes the long line wait a lot more tolerable. Give it a try-- if anyone complains, just apologize and put the whistle away.
Hm. The wonders of kick-the-dog syndrom.
I think it’s just that people too dang CHICKEN to fight what’s actually causing the problem, so they just take it out on people who can’t defend themselves as well i.e. other cars on the road, strangers in a line, their dog, etc…
It’s because their stupid chickens, not because they’re “passive-aggressive” or whatever.
Interesting observations, but one comment: I can understand if someone doesnt like my public whistling, but I havent yet encountered Whistle Rage…if anyone did try to get physical with me and it appeared that it couldnt be handled with my bare (open) hands, well, if necessary, the SweeTone could be a formidable weapon…but then burying a conical whistle into the chest cavity of a belligerant stranger isnt exactly the best way to be a local amabassador of the joys and virtues of Whistlery…
I say play. This country needs more music in it. Someone will love it, even if it is one little kid. Besides, maybe the guy next to you will pull out his pocket accordion and join in. Thereby drawing the crowds’ rage away from you.
I wouldn’t play in line. Face it, the upper octave can be painful to the person PLAYING the whistle, no less the innocent people standing in front of them in line. And typically people DON’T simply ask you to stop if you’re annoying them. They just get annoyed and upset.
I will, however, play at some distance from people, such as during lunch time, I’ll move away from the group, sit down and play. This lets them continue their conversation without my interference, but still hear what I’m mangling…I mean playing.
People around here are so apathetic, nobody notices…
Yes. The local venue which gets lots of celtic-y shows is general admission, so there can be a lot of waiting in line to get good seats. Since we all bring our instruments to the shows (for after), it’s not at all unusual to play some tunes while waiting in line. But I don’t think I’ve ever done it by myself – usually wait until there are several interested musicians around.
We’ve never had any complaints…
The only thing keeping me from doing this is that I always play crappy until I’ve warmed up. The urge to play in a line (I always keep a whistle in my purse) always hits me while I’m standing in line, not when I’ve parked my car and could practice a bit before que-ing up.
Lisa
Given the kind of…er…“music” we’re sometimes subjected to in downtown Santa Cruz, even a not-quite-warmed-up whistler would be a relief. While we do have some very good musicians who busk downtown, the majority of people playing on the street are just plain awful. There’s the incessant bongo drummers, who never seem to learn a different rythmn, the old guy with the fiddle who knows one tune (which he plays poorly) and, my least favorite, the roaming hippy guitarist who a) can’t seem to figure out how to tune his guitar and b) is so tone deaf, the only way to figure out what he’s playing is by listening to the words (all he knows is old Grateful Dead songs, so at least I recognize most of the lyrics! Jerry’d be spinning if he could hear how this guy manages to mangle the tunes, however). On the upside, being down there makes me feel like a real virtuouso!
Oh yeah, and lately there’s been this guy with a didgeridoo…
Redwolf
I don’t tend to play in public very often, unless I know the tune well. I have played waiting for my wife to get out of a class and have had people come up to me to listen, never a complaint (Thank Gawd!). I practice on my lunch break in my Buildings second story garage (Great Acoustics) and some of the smokers will look around the corner and listen for a while. My advice play in public when you are comfortable with the tune, I hink people enjoy good music everywhere, but if you sound like your’e strangling a cat instead of playing a tune, do it by yourself and spare the general public.
Just yesterday, I was getting Chinese take-out. My baby girl was on a chair with me, waiting for the food to be cooked. My wife and toddler son went outside for a while. I started playing simple songs on the Meg whistle, which has become my new car whistle.
Upshot? No complaints. One of the Chinese men behind the counter looked over and smiled at me. That’s it. I only played simple songs because that’s all I know. But nobody complained about it and nobody looked like he was wanting me to stop.
I say go for it. You can play the simple tunes that you started with and now know by heart. You can try a few of the fancier tunes. But just have fun. Don’t ever be afraid to make the world a little nicer.
-Patrick
I do this kind of thing all the time. Probably to unhealthy levels. I swear, I carry a whistle around with me like Linus’ (Think Peanuts, not unix-clone) security blanket. I play in lines at grocery stores, while waiting at the drive-through, at restaurants when bored, at the post office. Generally speaking, if i’m going to be in a line, take one of my quieter whistles. While the majority of my public whistling has been in Houston, TX, I have done a fair bit of travelling, and the responses have been pretty uniform, generally speaking.
In the street, such as outside a store or at bus stops, I am generally ‘purposefully’ ignored…I assume folks think I’m busking, and if they make eye contact, they’ll be forced into feeling guilty and tipping me. (Shrug). Occasionally, someone will be genuinely delighted, and stop for a listen and/or a chat…Sometimes, I’ve even been tipped. I’m of the opinion that when ACTUALLY busking, finding an indoor place to put you up pays much better than street-playing.
Inside, I’ve had mostly positive reactions, regardless of whether I’m busking or waiting in line. People ask me about the music, the instrument (often calling it a piccolo..go figure), where to get one, etc etc. I related a story once where a brazen young lady at a gas station who told me that if I wasn’t married (she must have noted my wedding ring) I’d be the proud owner of a new girlfriend. Most people seem generally uplifted/brightened, as long as you’re not too invasive with the music.
I can count the times I’ve had a negative reaction on one hand…once, a coupla of ‘bubba’ types made some snickering comments and pantomimed prancing like a leprechaun or something…not something that would strike a serious blow to my ego 
Once, when playing for my son at the supermarket, I got the attention from a little old lady who then spent an unhealthy amount of attention on my son. But, that’s about it, from my recollection.
I’ve never felt that people would be offended and lynch me…then again, put things in the proper perspective..my whistling is not nearly as loud, nor nearly as annoying, as the omnipresent loud jackass on the cell phone, and nobody does anything to them either.
Greg
Amen, People on cell phones are much more annoying!
On 2002-06-17 12:53, Wandering_Whistler wrote:
I related a story once where a brazen young lady at a gas station who told me that if I wasn’t married (she must have noted my wedding ring) I’d be the proud owner of a new girlfriend.
Unwittingly, Wandering_Whistler exposes the real reasons why men learn to play the whistle - Women!
i actually did that this weekend. i have been carrying my clarke around with me on a regular basis, and late saturday night as we left the bar and stood in line for a poutine (a quebecois form of fast food) i pulled out my whistle and started playing “christy barry’s set”. people seemed to love it, but i was asked to stop by a woman working there. a few people actually told her to leave me alone and let me keep playing. it was probably the only time i have played in public, but technically it counts because there were people actually listening!
i think the reaction would be pretty positive if you played for about 30 seconds to a minute.
whistle on!