While we cannot hold the GWC this year, we are putting on an event we are calling "Whistling Around The World".  The idea of this event is to showcase whistlers from all around the world, performing in places that are important to their culture or to them personally if possible.

In this event, we are encouraging people to go a little further than just using their phones to record a static performance.  Video and audio editing is highly encouraged, and for IWG members we will help provide some basic assistance with video and audio editing.

If you are interested in participating, there will be two phases with different goals.  The first phase is dedicated to creating one combined video of everyone performing the same song, and has a shorter deadline.  The second phase is a personalized music video for each performer, and has a much longer deadline.

Phase 1

  1. A super short video clip of what whistling means to you (less than 5 seconds, limit to 1~5 words if possible)
  2. Recording of you whistling "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong in your chosen location.
    • Please include yourself in your video so we can see whistlers from around the world.
  3. You may submit a video for 1, 2, or both.  We strongly encourage you to submit your video(s) before the deadline so we have time to edit them together before the premiere event on October 6th, 2022.

Phase 1 Deadlines

With our plan to premiere the "What a Wonderful World" video at a live event on October 6th, we realize there is not much time for people to complete their videos.  With that being said, we will have two deadlines.  The first is for inclusion in the premiere event at one of our live events in Japan on October 6th/7th and the second is to be included in the full Whistling Around the World event on December 10th, 2022.

  1. Inclusion in Live Event in Japan: September 15th 18th, 2022 at 11:59 P.M. PDT
  2. Inclusion in Whistling Around The World Livestream: November 27th, 2022 at 11:59 P.M. PDT

If at all possible, please try to finish before the first deadline.  We would love to show off your whistling to a live audience in Japan!

What a Wonderful World Backing Track

We have prepared a backing track for your What a Wonderful World performances, which can be found at the following links:
With guide melody:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11S6uuv3vnRCq25pcoIRByBWr4TRDrT3v/view?usp=sharing
Without guide melody:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17zFV28CJFYJ1J6-dtgYfYRP1iM_Htuhq/view?usp=sharing

These tracks include 4 measures of a click track and then have the backing track.

For melody reference, you can use this YouTube video of the original song:

Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World (Lyrics)

For those who prefer to read the score, it can be found here:

https://musescore.com/user/498481/scores/6317909

Video Submission Instructions

Whistling Around The World Instructional Video

For the What a Wonderful World video, we will be combining the whistling of many different people into one video.  For this reason, the audio of your submission for this particular video must only be the whistling portion.  This means that your audio should not contain the backing track.  The backing track is to help you perform the piece in time with the music, but should be played through headphones and not included in your recording.

To help us line up the final videos, please clap along with the click track in your audio, at least for the last three beats.

You are encouraged to record in a location that is important to you personally, culturally, or geographically (preferably outside).  For example: someone from near Washington D.C. could record a video with the U.S. Capitol Building in the background, or someone from Paris could record a video with a view of the Eiffel Tower.

Since you would be recording outside, which is not ideal for audio quality, we highly recommend recording your audio and video separately and stitching them together.  The simplest way to do this would be to record yourself performing the song twice: once for audio and once for video.  For audio recording, you could perform in a quiet environment such as inside your home.  For video recording, you can record in your location of choice.  If you do not have access to a computer to edit the audio and video together, or do not have confidence in your ability to stitch the video and audio together, please contact us at whistlersguild@gmail.com and we will try to work with you to get this done.  In the worst case scenario, you can send us your audio recording and video recording separately and we can edit them together for the final video.  We would very much appreciate you editing this together yourself if possible as combining audio and video for all of the submissions would take a considerable amount of time for us to complete.

There is free video editing software available online for most computer operating systems (Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, etc...).  Most of this software should be capable of handling combining a single audio stream and video stream.

A quick audio/video combining tip: When recording your audio and video, clap along with the click track at the beginning of the backing track.  This will make it much easier to match up the audio and the video.  Simply line up the clapping sounds in the audio with the clapping action in the video.  At this point, the audio and video should have a better chance of lining up (assuming you performed it the same both times).

What to submit:

  1. Video of you whistling What a Wonderful World with only whistling audio
  2. Optional short video of you saying what whistling means to you (less than 5 seconds)
  3. Some information about you and where you recorded your video or where you are from.  Example: David Eberius (USA) - Video recorded in Knoxville, TN in front of the Sun Sphere in World's Fair Park.
    1. Name
    2. Location of video recording
    3. Country of Origin or Citizenship

How to submit:

  • Send us an email at whistlersguild@gmail.com
  • Subject: Whistling Around The World Submission
  • Include the information from above in the body of your email
  • Include a link to a place where we can download your video(s) from a site like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Phase 2

For this phase of the Whistling Around The World event, we want people to produce their own music videos.  As long as your video contains whistling and is family friendly, you are welcome to include whatever you want as long as it can be shown on YouTube (please avoid copyrighted music tracks).  For this video, we want people to be creative and showcase their talent in whatever way they see fit.  It would be great for people to showcase one or more locations that are important to them personally, culturally, or geographically.

More information to come in the future.

Phase 2 Deadline

The deadline for phase 2 videos is: November 27th, 2022 at 11:59 P.M. PDT.