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CNN Live Sunday
Champion Whistler Wants to Make Whistling Mainstream
Aired September 07, 2003 - 10:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just put your lips together and lull a little bit, and that beautiful sound will come out, maybe.
That's the way Steve Herbst does it, anyway. He's a world-class whistler with a three-octave range. That's huge.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. He gave our Jeanne Moos a talent show on the sidewalks of New York. You've got to see this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Recall the days when everyone used to whistle? From dwarfs to prisoners of war.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just put your lips together and blow.
MOOS: Which is how Steve Herbst got to be the world champion of whistling.
(on camera) Wow.
(voice-over) From "Hungarian Rhapsody" to "Danny Boy," if you can name it...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Someone to Watch Over Me."
MOOS: Steve can whistle it.
At 13 months, he mimicked his father whistling. Almost half a century later, this ad agency exec is king of the world of whistling, watching home video of his winning performance earlier this year.
You look a little like the joker.
STEVE HERBST, CHAMPION WHISTLER: I'm a stand for the idea that whistling is an idea whose time has returned.
MOOS (voice-over): Every year whistlers return to Louisburg, North Carolina, for the international annual competition.
Contestants range in age from 80 to 12.
Steve says whistling gets no respect, that most folks put it in the same category as...
HERBST: Calling the hogs in for the night or something. MOOS: Skip the suey, we're talking Debussy, as in Claude Debussy's "Claire de Lune."
Steve has to be coached into whistling tunes.
(on camera) We do want Mayberry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's hear "Home on the Range."
HERBST: "Home on the Range"?
MOOS: And then your wife saying you're a good kisser?
HERBST: That's what she says, yes.
MOOS (voice-over): And his Web site, StevetheWhistler.com, he sells a CD of whistled favorites. Lip-syncing to whistling is a piece of cake.
That's Steve's parrot, who's just learning to whistle. This is a guy whose whistle spans three octaves, but says he can't whistle loud enough to hail a cab.
HERBST: I usually rely on the raising of the arm.
MOOS: He can whistle Stevie Wonder. He can whistle "My Way."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can play at my wedding. My second wedding.
HERBST: His way is the pucker method, while this guy prefers throat whistling.
(on camera) How is he making the sound?
HERBST: Beats the hell out of me.
MOOS (voice-over): Steve loves whistling in the shower, where his parrot has a bird's-eye view.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: We'll get to that parrot in just a second. We have Steve with us right now, and he's been whistling while we work and at work. Entertaining as well.
COLLINS: It's funny, isn't it?
CALLEBS: I wouldn't say funny. I'd say entertaining.
COLLINS: We know that you have a new CD out. How long has this CD been out, actually?
HERBST: It's been out about a year and a half. COLLINS: A year and a half? OK. So people can listen to pretty much any tune that you whistle along to.
Explain to us how you learned how to do this. I mean, it is not easy to whistle, at least for that long. And you have three octave ranges.
HERBST: Well, whistling long has a lot to do with whistling in as well as out so I can keep the melody going without to take, you know, gasping breaths in between.
Also, you know, it's a great deal of practice, years and years of practice, being able to shape the sounds and get the tone quality the way it needs to be.
CALLEBS: Give us a simple one like the theme from "Andy Griffith."
HERBST: (whistling)
CALLEBS: Now Opie throws the rock in the water.
COLLINS: Exactly.
CALLEBS: Now, what about something more challenging?
HERBST: OK. How about something like this? (whistling)
COLLINS: And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Steve Herbst was just named the international whistling entertainer of the year. This is a huge title. I mean, this is everybody in the entire world.
HERBST: It's something I'm very proud of.
COLLINS: Good for you.
HERBST: It has to do with bringing acceptance to whistling, bringing whistling back into the consciousness of people, which is my mission.
CALLEBS: Do people -- I don't want to say ridicule, but do they say, you know, why do you do this? It's not really a talent; it's just a pastime.
HERBST: I get all kinds of reactions, you know. You're putting me on. You're a professional what? It's like people sometimes in an audience will start out with kind of a smirk on the face, but by the end we've won them over.
CALLEBS: You've won them over.
COLLINS: They're amazed. Now, we saw you swooning -- a woman there talking about if you would do that for her at her wedding. Have you ever done that kind of thing?
HERBST: I've performed at many weddings. COLLINS: You have?
HERBST: I've performed at weddings and anniversary parties and all sorts of functions.
CALLEBS: Maybe you can do "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" or something like that before the end of the season.
HERBST: Actually, we were at a Braves game Friday night, and, you know, I had hoped to be able to do the "Star Spangled Banner" there for them, but these things are booked in advance.
COLLINS: I'm sure they would have loved it. What about the parrot? We saw the parrot in Jeanne Moos' package.
CALLEBS: That's yours?
HERBST: That's our parrot, Verdi.
COLLINS: Did you learn anything from Verdi about whistling?
HERBST: Verdi has learned about whistling from me.
COLLINS: OK.
CALLEBS: What about the guy with the throat whistling? That gave me the willies. That didn't look right.
COLLINS: What's the difference between the lip whistling and the throat whistling?
HERBST: There are actually several different kinds of whistling. The kind that I do most often is pucker whistling, where your lips are puckered up. Then you have tongue and pout whistling, which would be not involving the lips, like this.
COLLINS: Is it through the teeth?
HERBST: Well, it's the tongue and palate. The teeth are there but they're not really playing a role in the production of the sound. But you can smile. You know, like that.
Then you have finger whistlers. You have hand whistlers. And there's a throat whistler capability, as well, you know. It's like ventriloquism. I don't personally know how to do it, but it's a wonderful thing to watch.
CALLEBS: Hey...
COLLINS: Go ahead.
CALLEBS: To do -- do men whistle more than women? I mean, do they...
HERBST: The answer is yes. But I don't know that it's as much genetic as socialization, because in times gone by, women were discouraged. It was unladylike.
COLLINS: Why?
HERBST: Well...
CALLEBS: Construction workers and that type of thing.
HERBST: There was a time when, you know, women were discouraged from smoking, you know.
CALLEBS: They should be.
HERBST: It was a cultural thing. And that's been the case. But I know some wonderful whistlers who are women who, you know, come and perform and compete.
COLLINS: Unbelievable. Well, I'm amazed. And I think you do a fabulous job. Obviously the rest of the world thinks the same.
Before we go to break, do you want to hear another song?
CALLEBS: Sure, why not?
HERBST: OK.
COLLINS: "Summertime"? Can you do that one for us?
HERBST: (whistling)
COLLINS: You can whistle along to the break, if you would, Steve.
Steve Herbst, everybody.
Thanks so much for being with us, Steve. We appreciate it.
International whistling entertainer of the year.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 7, 2003 - 10:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Just put your lips together and lull a little bit, and that beautiful sound will come out, maybe.
That's the way Steve Herbst does it, anyway. He's a world-class whistler with a three-octave range. That's huge.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. He gave our Jeanne Moos a talent show on the sidewalks of New York. You've got to see this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Recall the days when everyone used to whistle? From dwarfs to prisoners of war.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just put your lips together and blow.
MOOS: Which is how Steve Herbst got to be the world champion of whistling.
(on camera) Wow.
(voice-over) From "Hungarian Rhapsody" to "Danny Boy," if you can name it...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Someone to Watch Over Me."
MOOS: Steve can whistle it.
At 13 months, he mimicked his father whistling. Almost half a century later, this ad agency exec is king of the world of whistling, watching home video of his winning performance earlier this year.
You look a little like the joker.
STEVE HERBST, CHAMPION WHISTLER: I'm a stand for the idea that whistling is an idea whose time has returned.
MOOS (voice-over): Every year whistlers return to Louisburg, North Carolina, for the international annual competition.
Contestants range in age from 80 to 12.
Steve says whistling gets no respect, that most folks put it in the same category as...
HERBST: Calling the hogs in for the night or something. MOOS: Skip the suey, we're talking Debussy, as in Claude Debussy's "Claire de Lune."
Steve has to be coached into whistling tunes.
(on camera) We do want Mayberry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's hear "Home on the Range."
HERBST: "Home on the Range"?
MOOS: And then your wife saying you're a good kisser?
HERBST: That's what she says, yes.
MOOS (voice-over): And his Web site, StevetheWhistler.com, he sells a CD of whistled favorites. Lip-syncing to whistling is a piece of cake.
That's Steve's parrot, who's just learning to whistle. This is a guy whose whistle spans three octaves, but says he can't whistle loud enough to hail a cab.
HERBST: I usually rely on the raising of the arm.
MOOS: He can whistle Stevie Wonder. He can whistle "My Way."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can play at my wedding. My second wedding.
HERBST: His way is the pucker method, while this guy prefers throat whistling.
(on camera) How is he making the sound?
HERBST: Beats the hell out of me.
MOOS (voice-over): Steve loves whistling in the shower, where his parrot has a bird's-eye view.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: We'll get to that parrot in just a second. We have Steve with us right now, and he's been whistling while we work and at work. Entertaining as well.
COLLINS: It's funny, isn't it?
CALLEBS: I wouldn't say funny. I'd say entertaining.
COLLINS: We know that you have a new CD out. How long has this CD been out, actually?
HERBST: It's been out about a year and a half. COLLINS: A year and a half? OK. So people can listen to pretty much any tune that you whistle along to.
Explain to us how you learned how to do this. I mean, it is not easy to whistle, at least for that long. And you have three octave ranges.
HERBST: Well, whistling long has a lot to do with whistling in as well as out so I can keep the melody going without to take, you know, gasping breaths in between.
Also, you know, it's a great deal of practice, years and years of practice, being able to shape the sounds and get the tone quality the way it needs to be.
CALLEBS: Give us a simple one like the theme from "Andy Griffith."
HERBST: (whistling)
CALLEBS: Now Opie throws the rock in the water.
COLLINS: Exactly.
CALLEBS: Now, what about something more challenging?
HERBST: OK. How about something like this? (whistling)
COLLINS: And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Steve Herbst was just named the international whistling entertainer of the year. This is a huge title. I mean, this is everybody in the entire world.
HERBST: It's something I'm very proud of.
COLLINS: Good for you.
HERBST: It has to do with bringing acceptance to whistling, bringing whistling back into the consciousness of people, which is my mission.
CALLEBS: Do people -- I don't want to say ridicule, but do they say, you know, why do you do this? It's not really a talent; it's just a pastime.
HERBST: I get all kinds of reactions, you know. You're putting me on. You're a professional what? It's like people sometimes in an audience will start out with kind of a smirk on the face, but by the end we've won them over.
CALLEBS: You've won them over.
COLLINS: They're amazed. Now, we saw you swooning -- a woman there talking about if you would do that for her at her wedding. Have you ever done that kind of thing?
HERBST: I've performed at many weddings. COLLINS: You have?
HERBST: I've performed at weddings and anniversary parties and all sorts of functions.
CALLEBS: Maybe you can do "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" or something like that before the end of the season.
HERBST: Actually, we were at a Braves game Friday night, and, you know, I had hoped to be able to do the "Star Spangled Banner" there for them, but these things are booked in advance.
COLLINS: I'm sure they would have loved it. What about the parrot? We saw the parrot in Jeanne Moos' package.
CALLEBS: That's yours?
HERBST: That's our parrot, Verdi.
COLLINS: Did you learn anything from Verdi about whistling?
HERBST: Verdi has learned about whistling from me.
COLLINS: OK.
CALLEBS: What about the guy with the throat whistling? That gave me the willies. That didn't look right.
COLLINS: What's the difference between the lip whistling and the throat whistling?
HERBST: There are actually several different kinds of whistling. The kind that I do most often is pucker whistling, where your lips are puckered up. Then you have tongue and pout whistling, which would be not involving the lips, like this.
COLLINS: Is it through the teeth?
HERBST: Well, it's the tongue and palate. The teeth are there but they're not really playing a role in the production of the sound. But you can smile. You know, like that.
Then you have finger whistlers. You have hand whistlers. And there's a throat whistler capability, as well, you know. It's like ventriloquism. I don't personally know how to do it, but it's a wonderful thing to watch.
CALLEBS: Hey...
COLLINS: Go ahead.
CALLEBS: To do -- do men whistle more than women? I mean, do they...
HERBST: The answer is yes. But I don't know that it's as much genetic as socialization, because in times gone by, women were discouraged. It was unladylike.
COLLINS: Why?
HERBST: Well...
CALLEBS: Construction workers and that type of thing.
HERBST: There was a time when, you know, women were discouraged from smoking, you know.
CALLEBS: They should be.
HERBST: It was a cultural thing. And that's been the case. But I know some wonderful whistlers who are women who, you know, come and perform and compete.
COLLINS: Unbelievable. Well, I'm amazed. And I think you do a fabulous job. Obviously the rest of the world thinks the same.
Before we go to break, do you want to hear another song?
CALLEBS: Sure, why not?
HERBST: OK.
COLLINS: "Summertime"? Can you do that one for us?
HERBST: (whistling)
COLLINS: You can whistle along to the break, if you would, Steve.
Steve Herbst, everybody.
Thanks so much for being with us, Steve. We appreciate it.
International whistling entertainer of the year.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
