Piston flutes, in folk versions usually made of cane or bamboo, existed in Africa, Asia and the Pacific as well as Europe before the modern version was invented in England in the nineteenth century. The latter, which may be more precisely referred to as the slide or Swanee whistle, is commonly made of plastic or metal.

By the 1920s, the Swanee whistle was common in the USA as a sound effect (as in animated cartoon sound tracks), but it is also possible to play melodies on a slide whistle and it was occasionally used in popular music and jazz.