The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-01

washington, d. C., Aug. 3l.-A
whistling school IL being conducted
in this city. The art OF whistling
which has so long been frowned
upon by sedate adults 10 being
taught scientifically to . group OF
boys and girls by q speech special
list. What is most remarkable.
woman Of about so years is in the
class along with the youngsters.
She believes that the old adage, "A
xhistlihg girl and a Growing hen
never come to good end" 10 more
sensible in its revised version, "A
girl that can whistle and hen that
can crow will make their way
WHEREVER they 60"
The class in whistling is the idea
of DR.. Walter B. Swift, we'll known
speech specialist of Boston. He no.
ticed that many Of his clinic pa
tients could not whistle. He also
took note of the fact that people
who whistle easily and we'll usually
have clear-cut speech The doctor
thought over these significant OBJ
servations and came to the conclu-
sion that whistling might we'll be
a means Of clearing up defective
speech. Accordingly he, held his
first whistling class in Boston last
month-the first whistling class in
history, he whimsically calls it.
7 Eight students enrolled. One was
a stammerer. One had a phonetic
defect. And the other six came just
to learn to whistle. After a month
Of persistent work DR.. Swift re-
ported that the stammerer had i'm
proved so per cent in his speech,
while the boy with the phonetic
trouble also talked with noticeable
improvement. The children with
whistling ambitions were joyously
trilling all sorts of tunes. The
whistling doctor then moved to
Washington to conduct his next ex-
pertinent. 4
Whether or not the experiments
justify his theory, the doctor is a
strong advocate of whistling as
music and exercise. He says:
Everybody should whistle. 1t is
the greatest worry killer l know
Of. Try it when you feel gloomy
and watch yourself cheer up.
Whistling should be a part of ev-
erybody's education; it tends to i'm
prove speech even if there is no
defect"
A Good Vocal Exercise.
The method Of producing whis-
Ting sound and the method OF
speaking are closely allied. the doc
tor points out, so that whistling is
good vocal exercise. Then, too,
when a person whistles he listens
to the sound he is producing and
tries to make it clear and pleas
ing.
That most people need to i'm
prove their speech is obvious. The
American voice is harsh and rasp-
ing, due to fast. high-pitched and
slovenly conversation. If we lis
tened to our speech as we listen
when we sing or whistle we would
soon have more agreeable voices,
LII. oWlIL says. we WOuIu pIU-
nounce our final g's and cease to
run words together in 2 tumble.
We would talk slowly enough to
make our words distinct, and soft
ly enough to produce pleasing
sounds. But most people do not
listen. We are so intent on the re-
marks we want to make that the
technique seems unimportant.
This is no defense, however. OF
the individual who always hears
his voice when he is speaking
Such a person SO enjoys the mel
ody that he draws from his instru-
ment that his self-consciousness is
easily apparent. There is presum-
ably a happy medium. Listen to
your voice occasionally, enough to
become sensitive to your defects
and listen to the voices OF other
people. That will help you tOsdis-
criminate between a pleasing voice
and grating mannerisms. These