Album Notes

About whistling:

Whistling as a musical art has an interesting place in American music history. Learn more from the artist's website at http://www.thewhistler.com .

About the artist:

Robert Stemmons began whistling at five. When legendary whistler Fred Lowery performed at his school in 1969, he was mesmerized and inspired. It was then he realized whistling is an excellent performing art.

Over the next twenty years, Robert worked hard, perfecting his instrument and teaching himself techniques, which would include vibrato, staccato, tremolo, warbling, harmony warbling, trilling, two-note harmony, and more.

Practicing for hours a day he additionally learned to make realistic bird sounds, including the sparrow, robin, cardinal, mourning dove, whippoorwill, screech owl, meadowlark, killdeer, blue jay, and raven. These are now trademarks of his concerts.

One afternoon in 1994, he was "whistling while he worked" in a school and was overheard by the music teacher. She asked him to perform as a guest in an upcoming show. In his first real performance, Robert did a blues number. The enthusiastic response received from that flagship performance encouraged him to follow his dream.

Robert has received commendation from the Governor of Oklahoma where he presently lives. In May 1997, he began receiving concert requests. Robert's whistling has taken him through 45 states and 4 provinces. In less than 12 years "The Whistler" has presented over 2,000 whistling concerts. Currently Robert performs with Cirque du Soleil in their touring production "Corteo".

About the album:

Whistlodeon contains a wide variety of music whistled by a true virtuoso. There is something for everybody and the versatility of whistling as a musical instrument is remarkably displayed.