Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos delved deeply into his country’s music to find a national musical voice. He often combined melodic and rhythmic elements from Brazilian music with Western classical music, which is true of Assobio a Jato, or ‘The Jet Whistle'.
Villa-Lobos composed The Jet Whistle in New York in 1950. He named his work to describe the technique he calls on the flutist to use during its last movement. To produce this effect, flutist, Bridget Douglas had to blow directly and forcefully into her flute with her mouth almost completely covering the mouthpiece. Combined with a glissando, the resulting whistle sounds like a jet taking off.
