Hey, I'm Flora Lichten.

And I'm Ira Flato, and you're listening to Science Friday.

Today in the show, The Science of Whistling.

Okay. No, this is not the Andy Griffith show that you're listening to.

For the rest of the hour, we're going to be talking about whistling.

Anyone who's trying to learn how to make a powerful whistle knows it's not as easy as just putting your lips together and blowing.

It's like an instrument. It takes practice. Flora, are you a good whistler?

I am not. No, I am not. But I do love that Kill Bill song.

Okay. Let me introduce my guests who are going to talk us through the science of a

good whistle. Wanda Civic, whose stage name is MCP, currently training for the Masters of Musical Whistling.

Who knew? She's based here in our New York studios. Welcome to Science Friday. Thank you so much for

having me. You're welcome, Dr. Aaron Johnson, a speech language pathologist and co-director of NYU Langone's

Voice Center in New York, New York. Welcome to Science Friday. Great to be here. Nice to have you both.

Wanda, you're a professional whistler? How do you get into a job like that?

Well, getting into any kind of music job, you just got to show up and make some noise.

And if they ask you to come back and they give you some money for it, you're a pro.

Do you have to choose an audition whistle when you do?

I mean, it depends on the gig.

Personally, I started whistling around the city through

jazz. You know, you can take a solo on any instrument, and I just started doing it on the whistle,

and I've never respected what a saxophone play had to say about me until he said he liked my horn

playing. And you're training for what, masters of musical whistling? Yeah, there's actually two global competitions.

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