ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997 TAG: 9704020031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
About 30 contestants will compete in a two-day convention in Louisburg, N.C., this month.
In this city of whistle-blowers, whistle-stoppers and whistlers-in-the-dark, Chris Ullman is an unhyphenated champ. He just whistles.
And quite well, too. Later this month, the government spokesman will defend his national whistling championship.
He dreams of standing before great orchestras, pursing his lips, and drawing standing ovations for his rendering of Mozart's ``Oboe Concerto'' or ``Meditation'' from Massenet's ``Thais.''
``I'd like someday to be an itinerant whistler. It makes people happy,'' he said. ``This place is so partisan and backbiting. Whistling is nonpartisan.''
Ullman's more realistic goal is to perform with a big symphony orchestra. He whetted his whistling appetite with the National Symphony Orchestra, performing at a Labor Day concert last September on the National Mall. He said he's dying to get a chance to perform at a regular concert.
``There's a credibility gap as a whistler,'' he conceded. ``People look at it as novelty rather than art.'' And, he said, ``I acknowledge the artistic concerns: Are you belittling the music, trivializing it?''
But he argued that at a time when audiences and appreciation for classical music are dwindling, anything is good if it convinces people that Mozart and Beethoven are worth listening to.
At the Mall concert, he got 60,000 people to follow along in whistling to a piece by bandmaster Edwin Franko Goldman.
No classical piece is written for whistlers, Ullman said, so he puckers up on solo parts written for instruments.
``If I know it, I can whistle it,'' he said.
By national standards, the two-day whistler's convention is a small affair. It's in Louisburg, N.C., population 3,007, beginning April 25. There are about 30 contestants competing in two divisions, popular and classical.
``Last year I won them both,'' Ullman said. It was a repeat from 1994.
``A lot of whistlers have great talent but don't know how to market themselves,'' Ullman said. He used to be spokesman for Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Budget Committee.
The 33-year-old spokesman-to-be for the Securities and Exchange Commission learned to whistle on his paper route as a kid. ``I would whistle almost exclusively Strauss waltzes,'' Ullman said, punctuating his words with several measures from ``Tales From the Vienna Woods.''
He trains for the competition by rehearsing several hours a day. He puts on a recording when he's getting ready for work and when he's in the car. Last year he made the Graceland pilgrimage, driving to Elvis Presley's home in Memphis, whistling and trilling on the entire 2,000-mile road trip.
``To whistle well is a matter of practicing a huge amount and refraining from kissing before the performance,'' says the defending champion. ``If the lips get too mushy, you can't hit the high notes.''
Ullman is a batchelor.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Government spokesman Chris Ullmanby CNBdoesn't always give traditional lip service. color.