Bird Water Whistle - A Fabulous Sounding Instrument

A bird water whistle is a woodwind instrument that makes birdlike sounds using a little water. Pour a little water down the mouthpiece and blow! The sound is astonishingly bird-like and needs no skill at all to play effectively.

Click the trumpet icon below to listen to an amazing audio clip of ‘Disappearing World’ below by 9 year old Erin Bryant. Erin directed the whole thing and played both keyboard themes and nearly all of the parts, including the bird water whistles, rainstick and frog twirler.

The piece starts as an idyll, but then portrays the threat to the environment (some ambient forest noises are used as part of the background and a chainsaw sample is used to represent the ongoing destruction). A fantastic early composition. Brilliant!

These bird-sound flutes can help with all aspects of EY development, including:

Sensory and/or physical needs

- Great for breath control, diaphragm exercise
- Gentle ear stimulation
- Soft tones help to relax and calm

Social, emotional and mental health
- Imagine being 'owls' and 'cuckoos' sitting in a tree, chatting; encourages softer, gentle and considered playing and listening.
- Perhaps an old steam train flashes past and disturbs all the life in the hedgerow; in comes ceng ceng turtle to illustrate the disturbance. Then all returns to the previous calm chatting.
- Music and sound-play is as much about soft and gentle as it is about pounding and beating.

Communication and interaction
Everyone plays their part in the 'Sound-scape' outlined in the previous column. Initiating, listening, responding.

Cognition and learning

Broadening listening and playing skills.