Page 8 - 2026 Jan-Feb GC

Yodeling
THE FIRST GERMAN CITIZEN OKTOBERFEST COLORING CONTEST WINNER is Genevieve
Knowles of Lancaster, NY. Genevieve won a dinner, once a month, from Hofbräuhaus Buffalo. Congratu- That raises the obvious ques- Yodeling probably came to the
lations Genevieve!
Wir leben alle unter dem gleichen Himmel, aber wir
haben nicht alle den gleichen Horizont.
We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have
the same horizon.
8 • THE GERMAN CITIZEN • January - February 2026
By Martin Ederer Yodelers figure out how to
n the popular imagination yo- cross the divide on vowel
deling has come to be associat-
Ied with German-speaking sounds in a musical way
Alpine regions in Switzerland, reliably and in tune, thereby
Austria, Germany and Italy, and making the characteristics
rightfully so. But as usual the story of the divide part of
is quite a bit bigger than that, since their singing.
all humanity have voices and vocal
characteristics in common. ridges’ and canyons’ ability to cre-
The basic technique of yodeling ate echoes only enhanced the use-
relies on being able to sing in a fulness of yodeling as
controlled way across the passagio communication.
(to use a formal opera term), which By the 1800s, yodeling became
is the gap between lower chest reg- a form of art and entertainment
isters and higher head registers. among the folk genre of music made
The passagio is the dividing line popular by romanticism’s fascina-
where the voice in untrained sing- tion with folkic authenticity, and
ers generally cracks between the also by a developing entertainment
lower and higher registers. It exists industry featuring traveling minstrel
for all of us. Highly trained singers shows and variety shows aimed at
get good at minimizing that wobbly less aristocratic audiences in towns
“crack” sound that makes amateur and cities.
singers self-conscious about sing- Though perhaps less researched
ing at all. Yodelers figure out how and less celebrated than alpine yo-
to cross the divide on vowel sounds deling, various forms of crossing
in a musical way reliably and in the vocal passagio exist in many
tune, thereby making the character- ethnicities and cultures spanning the
istics of the divide part of their globe, from Scandinavia (especially
singing. That’s the technical expla- again among herders), as well as
nation. Getting good at yodeling parts of central Asia and the Pacific
takes talent, time and practice. Islands and Africa.
tion: Why yodel at all in the first United States thanks to German-
place? At least in Alpine regions of speaking immigrants who then of-
Europe there is some historical re- ten mixed and mingled with Scandi-
Did you know?
cord of yodeling dating to the late navians (already with their own
• In Germany there are 1,500 differ- 16th century, and certain character- yodeling traditions) and also Appa-
ent types of beer, 1,000 types of istics stand out: Yodeling is com- lachian Scots-Irish, who also made
sausage and 300 types of bread. mon among rural alpine peoples, yodeling their own (think of Johnny
• Germany’s most famous food ex- generally not the nobility, the Reb hoots and hollers). Add to that
ports are sauerkraut, sausages wealthy, nor city people, and is African Slaves’ “field hollers”,
and brezeln (pretzels) mainly found in simple folk music. which Frederick Law Olmsted (well
• In the German language there are In all likelihood, yodeling is much known to Western New Yorkers)
35 different dialects. older than any written record. In- characterized as a "long, loud, musi-
deed, there is something primeval cal shout, rising and falling and
about it. breaking into falsetto."
Music historians think that yo- Minstrel shows, Vaudeville acts,
deling was originally less about a growing entertainment industry
music and more about communica- and later growing radio, recording
tion, i.e. making oneself heard over and film industries cemented yodel-
long outdoor distances. As most ing in American music, especially
people know, a yell that is loud in hillbilly music, and especially the
the house usually doesn’t carry far “cowboy song”. Yodeling became a
in outdoor acoustics, hence the pa- big part of the singing of Jimmie
rental admonition to children to use Rodgers, Gene Autry and Roy Rod-
an indoor voice. Birds that sound gers.
pleasant outdoors can sound abso- Then there’s the whole issue of
lutely ear-splitting when they sing Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan yell,
indoors. Yodels were therefore use- which defined a whole movie fran-
ful on the farm or among herders chise. It is basically a (very unmusi-
calling to one another or to their cal) yodel.
flocks or herds. In mountains, stone