About Whistling Tutor
Whistling Tutor listens through your microphone, draws your whistle as a live pitch line against the note you are aiming for, and tells you in cents how close you are. Every mistake gets one named hint within about a second.
How it works
- Pitch detection runs on your device, in your browser, on every slice of microphone sound. It uses autocorrelation: comparing each slice against delayed copies of itself to find the repeating period, which gives the pitch in hertz. There is no AI model and nothing is downloaded. The detector is tuned for whistles (about 500 to 4000 Hz), not for singing voices.
- The live line shows your pitch as a line against a shaded band for the target note. Green means in tune. The Feedback row under the chart names the current mistake.
- Scoring: a note is whistled correctly when you stay within the tolerance of the target and hold it steady. Tolerance is adjustable in Settings: Relaxed (40 cents), Normal (25 cents) or Strict (15 cents). One hundred cents make one semitone.
- Hear the note plays the target with a built-in synthesised tone so you can match it. Press it any time in practice mode (in quiz mode it is hidden until you are scored).
- Tunes: whistle the notes in order. A gap of silence ends an attempt, and a sudden pitch jump starts the next note. Jumping over a note earns the "You skipped a note" hint, naming the missed note.
- Quiz mode gives you 8 unseen notes from across the levels, hides the preview and the reference tone, and scores each one. Wrong answers name the mistake, never just the score.
- Whistle range: pick lower (starts on C5), middle (starts on G5) or higher (starts on C6) on the home page or in Settings. Every exercise is placed from that starting note. If you keep getting "right note, wrong octave", try another range.
The hints
- "A little higher": you are flat, below the note. Raise your pitch.
- "A little lower": you are sharp, above the note. Lower your pitch.
- "Higher, about N semitone(s)" / "Lower, about N semitone(s)": you are a whole semitone or more off. Press Hear the note and match it fresh.
- "Right note, wrong octave": you whistled the right note name but an octave too low or too high. Try it an octave away, or pick another whistle range.
- "You skipped a note": you jumped to a later note in the tune without passing the current one. Go back and whistle every note in order.
- "You slid up / down into the note": you started off and glided onto the target. Stop, hear it in your head, then begin exactly on the note.
- "Hold it steady": your average was in tune but the pitch wobbled. Keep the breath even.
Each hint shows the error in cents. After an exercise, points and badges track your progress on the home page.
The levels
- Level 1, single notes: 8 notes of the major scale to whistle and hold steady, one at a time.
- Level 2, tunes (unlocks at 50 points): 6 short traditional tunes, all public domain: Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Ode to Joy, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Frere Jacques.
Each completed exercise is 10 points; each level up brings points, badges and a day streak. Quiz mode gives 8 unseen notes.
Resources: learn from a real whistling teacher or community
For real instruction, learn from a whistling teacher or music community, linked above. A teacher hears things a pitch line cannot: your tone, your breathing, and whether you are straining. Never strain: if whistling hurts or feels tight, stop and rest.
These links open other websites in a new tab. Whistling Tutor is not affiliated with any of them and sends them nothing.
Privacy
- Your whistle never leaves your device. The pitch detector measures each slice of microphone sound and discards it. Only the detected pitch numbers are kept for the current exercise. Nothing is recorded, uploaded, shared or stored.
- No accounts, ads, cookies, analytics or trackers. The app loads nothing from other websites, and a security policy blocks connections anywhere else.
- Stored on your device only: your whistle range, exercises done, points, badges, day streaks, settings and whether you have seen the welcome message, in your browser's local storage. Delete it with Offline proof, Delete all my data, Settings, Clear progress, or your browser's site settings.
- The microphone is only on when you press Start listening in an exercise. It turns off when you leave the exercise, press Turn mic off, or switch to another tab.
- Hosting: like any website, the server that delivers the app's files may keep standard technical logs of those downloads. The app itself sends nothing. Full privacy page
Disclaimer
- This is a home practice tool, not a teacher, therapist or safety device. Everything runs on your device: no video, audio or images are sent anywhere. Feedback is automatic and can be wrong. For real instruction, learn from a whistling teacher or music community, linked on the Resources page.
- The app measures the pitch of your whistle, not your tone, breathing or technique. Background noise or a quiet whistle can confuse the detector. Pitch scores are a practice aid, not a measure of musical ability.
- Never strain. If whistling hurts or feels tight, stop and rest.
- The app is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind.
Accessibility
- Hints and pitch readings are announced to screen readers, and every control works with a keyboard. The pitch line is also readable as text: the Feedback row names the current mistake and the error in cents.
- Animations follow your device's "reduce motion" setting, and chimes and confetti can be turned off in Settings.
Credits
- Pitch detection (autocorrelation), the note scorer, all exercises and all text: original code and content written for this app (no third-party libraries).
- The tunes are short opening phrases of traditional public-domain melodies.
- Built with the on-device coach pattern from the Pitch Trainer app.
Whistling Tutor version 1.0.0