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School of Music
Percussion Techniques

Whistles

Click above to watch how a whistle is played.

These are considered aireophones by Kurt Sachs. They are not really percussion instruments, but along with his other categories of membranophones, idiophones, etc. are associated with the percussion section of the orchestra for sound effects. These usually include bulb horns (as in Gershwin's American in Paris) or police whistles (as in Poulenc's Le bal masque) but can often include unique types of bird whistles, from nightingale to crow calls.

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