Lesson 7 - Teach Me How to Yodel

Lesson 7 - beta

For Lesson 7, I chose the song "Teach Me How to Yodel" by Rudy Burkhalter. I rewrote a few of the lyrics to reflect that this is part of a course. Also, unlike Lesson 6"Yodel Without Fear", there are two different yodel sections instead of just one repeated throughout. The second section has you singing and yodeling together, something we haven't done yet.

Composer Rudolf "Rudy" Burkhalter (1911-1994)

Burkhalter, a Swiss-American, born in Basel, Switzerland and passed away in 1994 in Madison, Wisconsin. He was a true ambassador for Alpine Folk Music. In addition to writing this song, he played all the Alpine instruments including Alphorn, Swiss Cowbells, accordion, and several others.

At the beginning of the final recording, I am giving "props" to Rudy with a montage of familiar alpine sounds.

We will be putting our tongues to work like mad. Be sure to warm up on single notes to get ready for Tongue Acrobatics. Slowly speed up the notes keeping them crisp and clear. Use good breath support and use the consonants to flick your tongue off the roof of your mouth.

REINFORCING PAST LEARNING

Review yodeling sixteenth notes in Lesson 5

NEW LEARNING OUTCOMES:

You will be comfortable using octaves in your yodel.

You will perform vocals and yodels in the same phrase.

7a

Let's start with repeating 16th notes to work up the clarity and speed of the phrase. Start slowly concentrating on the syllables Ho-del- la - dee, yo-del-la-dee. Repeat the phrase a few times and practice it in different keys.

So, the last syllable "dee" is typical to alpine yodeling but not American yodeling. If you listen to American yodeling, "tee" is commonly used. In a phrase like 7a below, that doesn't work in the first two measures. However if you like, you can use "tee" in the last phrase. Yodelaydellooo tee. I tend to like the "dee" as it is not as harsh, however the use of "tee" makes the note clearer and solid.

In the audio file, you will hear three cowbell strikes to count in.

7b

This yodel begins in your chest voice on the A and repeats quickly with the final A being the springboard to the A an octave higher. Practice all the A's clear and in tune. Here again you can replace "dee" for "tee".

This yodel begins in your chest voice on the C. The G and E are in falsetto. In the second measure the Bs are in your chest and the G and F are falsetto. Use your tongue and the roof of your mouth to sing the syllables. Refer back to Level 4 for the repeating sixteenth notes.

7d.

This is probably the most challenging part of the song. Here you are both singing and yodeling sneaking very small breaths as you go. In my recording, I of course recorded them separately.

The YodelCast (Short Running Podcast)

Back when podcasts were new, and I was hungry to learn the next great thing, I came up with the idea for the YodelCast. It was to be a combination of interesting yodel news, guest interviews, questions from listeners and brief lessons. I did learn how to do a podcast especially the part where it takes a large amount of time to plan, contact guests, record and edit. This resulted in only three episodes which were on iTunes for a couple years.

NONE OF THE WEBSITES OR EMAIL ADDRESSES IN THE AUDIO FILES ARE CURRENT

March 2006 - Yodelcast 1
About the Cast / Ursprung Buam / News / Franzl Lang / Questions / Advanced Yodel