The Whistler from Places by Trevor New

The Whistler- this tune was a fixture in my set for a about a year. I have been changing and developing it for most of that time through performance and some practice as well. Much of it is improvised but the form has morphed in a lot of interesting ways.

My grandfather was an amazing Whistler. Whenever we'd go for a drive he'd always be whistling whatever was on the radio. It took me a while but eventually I was able to join in. These piece is about those memories and the ones I have with my family when I was growing up.

The beginnings of this piece happened during a show I played last year in January. I had been working with a melody for whistling and viola, as well as just getting started with my work on the MYO armband. I thought the melody was great and I really enjoy whistling but I was struggling finding a way to put it all together.

The melody came about because I was revisiting a short piece that I wrote called "Sloan", I wanted to add more to it and expand the instrumentation. That evening I had planned to play at a little gathering in Brooklyn through Artery at Roni Goren Ben-Zvi's apartment(Thanks again!). I had been thinking about that whistling and the melody all day and it crept into what I was playing and really became the first iteration of that song.

Trevor New, a Brooklyn Based musician.
His work as a sound designer, engineer/producer, and performer can be found in a variety of media, including film scores, arranging, electronic music, and TV. Trevor plays solo performances, playing his viola and singing, and using Ableton Live for looping and effects.