Whistle register

Minnie Riperton
Mariah Carey
Minnie Riperton (left) had one of the earliest hit records using the whistle register on "Lovin' You" while Mariah Carey (right) uses the technique extensively in her music, most notably with "Emotions".

The whistle register (also called the flute register or flageolet register) is the highest register of the human voice, lying above the modal register and falsetto register. This register has a specific physiological production that is different from the other registers and is so called because the timbre of the notes that are produced from this register is similar to that of a whistle.

In some sopranos, the modal register vocal production may extend into what is usually thought of as the whistle register.[1]

  1. ^ James C. McKinney (1994). The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults: A Manual for Teachers of Singing and for Choir Directors. Genevox Music Group. ISBN 978-1-56593-940-0. Retrieved 26 July 2013.