Yodel-ay-hee-whoo
When most people think about Switzerland, they think of Swiss cheese, Swiss Army knives, tall Alpine mountains, and yodeling. Most of us have seen at least one movie or television show in which someone in a traditional Swiss outfit stands on a mountainside and calls, “Yodel-ay-hee-whoo!” Maybe you’ve even watched an old Tarzan movie in which Tarzan swings through the trees and yodels his famous cry. But just what is this strange noise, what is it for, and how did it get started?
Yodeling has been used as a means of communications in mountainous regions for centuries. While yodeling is most often associated with Switzerland, it actually originated in the 4th century BC. A Roman emperor named Julian complained about the “wild, shrieking songs” of people who lived in the northern mountains. Some people believe that yodeling may have started in Africa, probably as a way to call cattle and keep them together. In the 1200s, early shepherds in the Alpine region that includes modern day Switzerland discovered that they could alternate their voices between a regular singing voice and a falsetto (a singing voice that is unusually or unnaturally high) voice, and began using it to call their cows and communicate with each other across large areas. This kind of singing became known as yodeling in English, from the German word jodeln, which means “to utter the syllable jo” (pronounced “yo” in English).
It didn’t take long for yodeling to move from a folk tradition to a type of entertainment. By 1830, it was a popular act in theaters and music halls. It was also included in many Austrian and Swiss folk songs. In the United States, some of the traveling minstrels in the 19th century performed yodeling. In 1892, inventor Thomas Edison made a recording of yodeler L. W. Lipp for Edison’s New Jersey Phonograph Company. Singers began using yodeling in other forms of music, such as blues and country. Folk singer Jimmie Rodgers released a recording called “Blue Yodel No. 1.” He eventually recorded 13 blue yodel songs, which blended yodeling with African American blues and work songs. Rodgers’ recording created yodeling craze in the United States. Singing cowboys and cowgirls also began using yodeling in their acts.
How do singers yodel? They do it by rapidly shifting from their regular chest singing voice to their falsetto head voice, at high volume. They might be shifting several times in just a few seconds. Yodelers use the consonants AH, OH, OO for chest notes and AY or EE for the falsetto, so in the famous yodel “Yodel Ay EEE Oooo,” the EEE is sung in the high head voice and the rest in the chest voice. It takes time and training for singers to learn how to move so quickly between the two voice levels.
Yodeling has found its way into a lot of modern music as well, including punk and contemporary rock. Singer Jewel yodels in her song “Chime Bells.” Her father, who in turn learned from listening to Jimmie Rodgers’ recordings, taught her to yodel. Gwen Stefani yodels in her 2006 single “Wind It Up.” Other famous yodelers include the Muppets, Bill Murray, Julie Andrews in the movie The Sound of Music, Shakira, Gene Wilder, Disney’s Goofy, and South Korea’s former Miss World, Ji-Yea Park. Kishore Kumar was a famous Indian singer and actor who was known for his yodeling.
Many people are trying yodeling, especially because it is said to help relieve stress. Listen to some yodeling performances (there are many on YouTube), then find a mountaintop, or at least some place where you won’t bother anyone, and give it a try. Maybe yodeling will be an easier way to communicate with your friends than texting or emailing…or maybe not.
