Yodeling doesn't have to be comic. Go to YouTube and search for 'Yodel Choir' and you will hear yodeling which has no comedy and no oom-pah.

Yodelling uses all the skills a singer has. It is the vocal equivalent of a top gymnast flying around the parallel bars at top speed. Yodelling is an example of a basic human drive - the drive to show off.

Here's a video of a Angela Wiedl of Germany singing to an audience in Michigan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAqlvhjgLjM&feature=related

She sings from B-flat below the staff up to an F at the top of the staff. Her low notes are rich and her high notes are sweet. When she yodels, she yodels very fast and she whips from her chest voice to her head voice with amazing rapidity. These are things we look for in a good yodeler.

The audience is courteous and attentive. They know what she's accomplishing, and they like it. This rapport with the audience is another thing I like about the world of yodeling.

A yodel song usually has two parts, a story told in verses (narrative) which alternates with yodeling. My personal standard is that the narrative voice must be nice to listen to. It doesn't matter to me how fancy the yodelling if the narrative voice is ugly. In other words, out goes Jimmy Rodgers...