Why People Whistle or Sing

 

Do people only whistle or sing when they are happy?

Some people never whistle or sing—happy, sad, scared, or mad. Studies about whistling—and there are not many—found that more men than women whistle. Music Scholars refer to whistling as ‘momentary musical performing’, which also includes drumming a beat on the desk, humming while doing some tasks, and singing in the shower—which incidentally has been found to have a calming and refreshing effect on the brain, soothing the nerves and elevating the spirit. The choice of tune appears to reflect the whistler’s mood or is chosen to alter or enhance their mood. Some humans tend to whistle to break up the silence, the humdrum, the normal and boring, or to entertain themselves. Others whistle while they work. The 1937 animated Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, suggested that whistling provided a pace for cleaning up the place. In The King and I, whistling a happy tune was a way to cover up being afraid. In Universal Pictures Les Misérables, the Song of Angry Men was about people who will not  slaves again. Bottom line? People whistle or sing for many different reasons, each likely as unique as each person’s brain.