WHO'S NEWS
March 30, 2004
Meet a Champion Whistler
TFK finds out what makes Chris Ullman pucker up and blow
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Chris Ullman, 40, has been blowing people away with his whistling for almost 30 years. The four-time national and international grand whistling champion has whistled for President George W. Bush in the Oval Office and performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the U.S. Capitol. TFK spoke with Ullman about how he got started whistling and what it takes to be a world champion whistler.
TFK: How did you get started whistling?
Ullman: I started when I was five. My father was always whistling, and I was his little helper around the house. I got better over time. I had a paper route from age 13 to 16. I whistled two hours every day while I pedaled my bicycle, delivering papers. At first, my customers said it was more of a volume thing. They could hear me coming. But then, as I got better, they could pick out what piece I was doing.
Then, I went to college, and I started whistling with blues and jazz bands. I moved to Washington in 1987, and I would do open mike nights. In 1993, I started competing in the International Whistling Competition.
TFK: What are the competitions like?
Ullman: They are really fun. They have a whistling school. They have dinners and other social events. In the competition itself, there's a pop and a classical division. Whistlers are very friendly, and they like to share their talent with people.
I won the competition four times. No one has won the competition five times. So I'm thinking I'll be like Lance Armstrong and set a record.
TFK: What was it like to whistle for President Bush in the Oval Office?
Ullman: It was an amazing experience. I whistled five songs for him. While I was whistling, Vice President Cheney and a few other staff members walked in. The whole time, I kept saying to myself, 'Take your time, appreciate this, look around, because it will never happen again.' This was very extraordinary in my life—to actually be in the Oval Office, serenading the president.
TFK: Were you nervous?
Ullman: I was a tiny bit nervous, but he made me feel so comfortable that I didn’t get tongue-tied or anything. When I whistled for the National Symphony Orchestra, I was much more nervous.
TFK: What was that like?
Ullman: It was at the U.S. Capitol, with 60,000 people there. The first minute was just the orchestra, so I was just standing there. The more I stood there, the more nervous I was getting. Around five seconds into it, I went from autopilot to control, and then I knew what I was doing. I settled down very quickly, and the audience really loved it.
TFK: What do you think is the best part about performing?
Ullman: Making people happy. It makes me feel special. I perform for the satisfaction of the audience, because performing for one's own satisfaction misses the point in the end. It's really added this incredible dimension to my life. It makes people smile, and it's hard to beat that.
TFK: What is the most difficult thing about whistling?
Ullman: The most difficult thing is dealing with people who don't like whistling. You'll have a young kid who’s learning how to whistle, and people will say, 'Oh, be quiet. You’re annoying me.' It's overcoming the societal perception, which is that whistling belongs outside, not in the house. And then, like any musical instrument or hobby, you've just got to work on it and overcome the challenges of learning pieces and new techniques.
TFK: How much time do you spend practicing?
Ullman: I practice at least an hour a day in the off-season. When I'm getting geared up for a performance, I usually practice two to three hours a day. In 1996, I went to Graceland a week before the whistling competition, and I whistled literally five hours every day. But it definitely paid off because I won every division in the competition after that.
TFK: Besides practicing, how do you prepare for a performance?
Ullman: Backstage, I tend to pace back and forth. I hum quietly to myself, and I say a prayer and hope that I will use this gift in a good way. And in addition to practicing, I spend a lot of time demo'ing songs. I'll go through hundreds of songs trying to figure out the right one to do, because what song you do is very important.
TFK: What types of songs do you whistle?
Ullman: I try to pick things that are very upbeat and technically challenging. They're fast, and they have instruments going crazy.
TFK: What do you do when you're not whistling?
Ullman: My day job is doing public relations at an investment firm in Washington, D.C. My key hobbies are home remodeling and bicycling. Bicycling is good for lung conditioning and breath control, which is very important in whistling.
TFK: What advice can you give readers who are trying to learn to whistle?
Ullman: Find songs that have a strong melody, put them on the CD player, and practice them over and over again. Pay close attention to the notes. Try to mimic them well. Find a couple of songs that you like and just whistle them until you really perfect them. In doing so, you'll develop a stronger whistle, you'll learn to stay in tune, you’ll develop new techniques over time, and you'll develop your confidence.
