The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-06-29
A WRESTLING TEACHER.
A Chicago Mans Novel PrOfessiOn-A
Whistling Recital.
(From the Chicago ChronicleD

(From the Chicago Chronicle.)
The first whistling recital ever given any
where will be a feature of next months
musical affairs, and Chicago teacher of
the art of properly pickering the lips and
using the breath to produce musical sounds
will show what can be done by careful
training. Robert Chisholm Balm is prob
ably the only teacher of whistling in the
world. For three years Mr. Balm, who
scorns the title of professor, has conduct
ed classes in whistling, and at the present
time he has seven young people, four Of
them women, industriously working
scores and scales trying to Initiate the liquid
notes Of the hooking bird. On June he
intends giving a whistling recital at Kim
ball hail. at which two young women and
two young men will whistle and show crit
ical world how it is done.
There will be other musical features on the
program, including selections by Jessie
Patton Miner, of the Gottschalk Lyric
school, but the whistling will be the feature
of the afternoon, and those who Sc
lected to appear are hard at work.
The young man who has adopted this
novel profession, if it may be so dignified,
is natural whistler. When he was lad
he was always whistling. and his friends
say he whistled before ne learned to talk.
He was a phenomenal whistler as he grew
older, but he never thought of putting his
gift to any practical use and began the
study of medicine. in 1887 he graduated
from Hahnemann college and followed his
profession for five years. 1t was always
distasteful to him, however, and he took
little interest in it. In 1891 he was in Paris,
where the subject of whstling CHANGED to
come up for discussion between him and
young woman who was in attendance at the
vocal school of Nine De La Grange, and
the young woman suggested that Balm begin
the study of whistling with a view to be-
coming a teacher. For some months he re-
n It'd vi shro inc xyOr1'
which is an essential in the finished whist
Ter, and when he returned home he was
Unused with the idea of forming class and
embarking as a teacher of whistlng.
He continued his studies in this city in the
line of correct breathing and finally devel-
oped method in whistling, but he was still
doubtful as to whether or not he could i'm
part his knowledge to pupil, as he had no
training in the art of teaching. But he
started in and met with success from the
start and now is we'll established. The
pupils are drilled at first in correct breath
ing, and then the practical work of whist
ling is taken up, with a piano accompani-
ment. OF course, the preliminary training
is as rudimentary as is that of pupil I'M
dertaking vocal lessons. and consists in ex-
ercises in the scales and in prolonged notes.
AS progress is made the pupils are advanced
to simple melodies and thus on through the
various stages to operate msuic, arias and
the like The average course in which
pupil can decide whether or not he or she
is to be a whistler is ~ weeks In that
time, Mr. Balm says, sufficient progress
ought to be made to enable the pupil to
show decided advancement.
AS many girls take up the study of whist
ling as do young men. and there is no rea-
son why they should not succeed. The vo-
cal chords have nothing to do with whist
ling, the sound being dependent upon vol
umes of air being vibrated. as in a pipe
htDhQr notes
by reducing the size Of the volume of air
by moving the tongue and lips. Mr. Balm
says he does not teach his pupils to give
limitations" of animals or anything else,
as there Is a limit to the number of imita-
tions possible to the human voice, while
there IL no limit to the musical productions
of whistler il his work is along musical
1inea