Fun family memories of learning how to whistle from Dad, Teenage Fun in New Orleans, Crashing Tulane College Fraternity Parties, "Dock of the Bay" song by Otis Redding ....
Choo Choo Train Whistle Sounds and More
“Daddy, how do you do that?” this 7 year old asked in the Spring of 1966 while sitting on the porch of our then 1929 Broadway Street home in the Uptown / Carrollton area of New Orleans.
“It took me a long time, Keith, to learn how to dot that, but let me show you how I do it,” said A. N. Horcasitas, Jr., my dad to this inquisitive boy who loved the was that “Choo-Choo” Whistle like sound.
“I love trains, like the one Santa gave to David and me last Christmas, so keep doing that!” I said.
So Daddy then showed me how to put my hands together, and this was mainly by tucking my left hand non-thumb fingers into area between my index and thumb of my right hand and then wrapping them together with my thumbs facing up.
Daddy showed me how he blew air into the thumb opening and making sure to keep a slight opening at the bottom to where the two inside palms met to create the whistle effect.
Of course, I couldn't recreate that cool sound right away that my Dad had done, and with frustration, I cried a little, but I was determined to be able to do it – as Mom would always note that this “hard-headed boy” would never give up!
And Daddy consoled me and reminded me how long it had taken to learn that from “Tito,” short for the Spanish word for Grandpa, “Abuelito.” I tried and tried for many days, and every now and then, I would hear a tiny resemblance of a whistle, which certainly gave me incentive to keep trying and even got more pointer from my Dad.
Finally, as school was winding down and Summer break was beckoning, I found myself practicing to hand whistle while sitting in the backyard this time, where “Tita, our Grandma kept some nice roses in the garden, and where I had a big pet turtle.
And then, what an amazing sound emanated from my hands … a “CHOO – CHOO” toot like a train makes, and what I used to hear when I took rides as a kid at Audubon Park and City Park in New Orleans sometimes with my parents!
I was so overwhelmed by having discovered that skill, which both my Daddy and Grandpa had done, that I cried again!
Fast forward to when I was in high school, I found out that some of my buddies, Scott and David, had learned their own versions of that whistle. So when I went to Scott's house on Newcomb Blvd or David's on Dunleith Court, I would first blow that whistle to alert them that I was nearby – long before cell phones!
This gang whistle communication came in handy, especially if we may had gotten in trouble around that time for expected wayward teen behaviors and we would, incognito, meet and carry on - like trying to get into nearby Tulane Fraternity Rush nearby parties impersonating college freshmen (lol)!
Choo Choo Train Whistle Sounds and More
