Rue's Whistle

Hey everyone. 

I read the books a few months ago. When I saw the movie trailer, I noticed it ended with a 4-note whistle. (Minor spoiler alert!) It seemed like this would be the 4-note whistle used in the book between Rue and Katniss.

In the books, Rue used a 4-note melody that someone would sing, and the Mockingjay birds would hear it and repeat it. The sound of the melody would repeat through the forest. In the forest of District 11, they used this signal to let the workers know the workday was over.

I took the 4-note whistle from the movie trailer, and composed a new age/jazz piece based on what overlapping birds would sound like, and then improvised a sax solo over it. I have the audio here on Youtube: http://bit.ly/whRIYl

I compose occasional pieces like this, and inspired by Cliff and GSPN decided to create my own podcast. It is called "Making My Own Music" and it is at http://makingmyownmusic.com/. The first episode is called "Rue's Whistle" and is about the piece I created, and my thinking process on the composition.

My wife and I saw the movie last night. (Minor spoilers again.) It turned out the melody was Katniss's, so Rue's Whistle turns out to not be the best title... Also they didn't sustain the whistle or have so many birds singing it at the same time, so it doesn't really sound like my song at all. However, there is a place in, I think, the third book/movie where they Katniss might whistle this again in front of Mockingjays, and it might sound like my overlapping birds.

-Tom