Dare to Yodel!

17 Mar 05 - 07:31 PM (#1437265)
Subject: Dare to Yodel!
From: PoppaGator

I have a propensity to sing along with performers. I think I know how to control this impulse; I certainly don't indulge my habit in a sit-down concert milieu, and even in settings where alcohol is served and a degree of rowdiness is expected, I usually try to modulate my volume and not to out-shout the paid performer(s). Like my wife likes to tell me when she kicks me under the table, the people came to hear that guy, not me.

So, anyway:

One evening not too long ago, we were sipping a couple of pints and enjoying a musical performance, and I eventually began to sing along with the choruses of some familiar songs. Just the choruses, not the verses. It was a solo act, so I wasn't bellowing at the top of my lungs (as I might do with a high-volume electrified rock band). In fact, I'm quite sure that the fellow on stage was pleased to have inspired a bit of audience participation, and indeed was encouraging even more people to join in.

When he started a well-known and widely-loved Jimmie Rodgers classic, I was not the only patron to sing along. Everything was going along nicely until we got to the part where Jimmie had written in the yodeling part. All of a sudden, there I was, out on a limb, yodeling all alone!

I'm sure that some of you know the feeling, to suddenly be surrounded by silence, a lone voice where a moment before you had been hidden well down in the mix.

The worst of it was, I wasn't yodeling worth a damn because I was being so careful not to be in full open-throat mode, which is really the only way to deliver a decent yodel. How disconcerting to find yourself isolated, with everyone able to hear your whiney half-assed wimpy little half-stifled "yodelay-hee-ho"!

Now, the fellow on the bandstand was a very good singer, and a professional. He witnessed what happened, commisserated with me, and allowed as he never really felt able to yodel and just sorta skipped over that part.

Hey! If you're not willing to yodel, don't try to cover the Singing Brakeman! Seriously: I'm not saying to cut the songs from your repertoire, I'm saying this: open that throat and let yourself yodel! Sure, you'll want to practice in absolute privacy first, for a while, but you'll be glad you did!

There's such a thing as being too controlled, too careful; some approaches to singing demand am element of risk, of full-out, balls-to-the-wall, pedal-to-the-metal, exuberant shouting! Not only yodeling, but blues-"shouting," rock-n-roll wailing, etc. If it's a little risky, that's OK ~ it's part of what makes live music appealing, and definitely part of what makes music a medium for communicating one's own human spirit. I say, go for it!

Now, I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool "folkie." I started learning an instrument thanks to the influence of the big Folk Revival, and I still enjoy plenty of folk music, just as I enjoy plenty of other music, but I'm not devoted exclusively to any one genre, and I'm not a fan of everything that comes under the broad definition of "folk music." One thing I don't like about some folk music is that it's just so damn tame ~ as though some performers don't want us to hear how they really feel.

Now, I know that you have to exercise control and self-discipline to learn and progress as a musician. I understand that unbridled freedom of expression, without some degree of restraint and serous study, can make for some very boring, very stupid, overly simple noise. But I think that continued development as a musician demands an ebb and flow between the opposite poles of contraint and explosion. Sure, you want to become ever more precise in your fingering, in your ability to vocalize the exactly correct note, etc. But that's not all there is to music. Periodically, I think you have to force yourself to go nuts, take chances, and explore the limits of self-expression.

(Sorry about all the exclamation points. This topic has been bugging me for a while, and I had to finally get it off my chest.)

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17 Mar 05 - 10:00 PM (#1437348)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Stephen L. Rich

Speaking as Your Friendly, Neighborhood, Yodeling Cowboy, I'm inclined to agree with you about the Jimmie Rodgers songs. Besides, if yodeling isn't pushing the limits, what is?

Stephen Lee

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17 Mar 05 - 10:09 PM (#1437353)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Azizi

"Periodically, I think you have to force yourself to go nuts, take chances, and explore the limits of self-expression."

Hey, I know the feeling! I take a risk every time I open my mouth.

But I got one question:
What does "yodelay-hee-ho!" mean?

Oops! Sorry, wrong thread.

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17 Mar 05 - 10:43 PM (#1437373)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: hesperis

Damn straight! Now, how do you yodel??

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17 Mar 05 - 11:03 PM (#1437382)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: M.Ted

I also agree that if you can't do the yodel, don't do the yodelling song--I also sympathize, because I am a great one for singing along--and on the verses as well as the refrain--

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18 Mar 05 - 12:03 AM (#1437411)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: jimmyt

Poppagator, did you wonder if he doesn't do that everytime he has an audience participant? secretly saying to himself, " that's OK fella, wait till I lull you in to my Yodel Solo trap!" grin!

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18 Mar 05 - 06:42 AM (#1437553)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Flash Company

I used to long to do 'In the jailhouse now' which I think is a great song, but no yodel, so no song!
FC

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18 Mar 05 - 07:50 AM (#1437587)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: AggieD

I love yodelling, & we as we spent many a happy hour in Austria skiing, there was many a chance to yodel along with the music, although most of the time I did it reasonably quietly, except after several glasses of schnapps, when I didn't do anything quietly!

Someone told me, although I don't know how true it is, that you have to be able to 'break' your voice to yodel, not something everyone can do apparently. Whether you can be taught how to do it I don't know, but I still love to yodel.

But why on earth do a yodelling song if you can't yodel?

PoppaGator, maybe you should have hired yourself out to the singer as a professional yodeller... hey great idea for all us yodellers out there, how much should we charge guys?

As far as not putting feeling into folk, I agree. Unfortunately over the years I think folk music has to a certain degree been spoiled by commercialisation, where singers/musicians feel pressured into putting on a slick performance rather than one with feeing.

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18 Mar 05 - 08:11 AM (#1437605)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: YorkshireYankee

This seems an appropriate place to mention Lou & Petter Berryman's song "Double Yodel" – an extemely entertaining ditty about a couple who yodel together. Here's an excerpt:

Lou: Saturday night when we confuse the Palomino
Peter: Takin' the long romantic way to the casino
Both: Riding along we share a jug of Amaretto
Peter: And after I sing a bit of bass
Lou: I sing falsetto

Lucky are we to have each other for assistance
For when the locals hear us yodel in the distance
And when they say that yokel's vocal cords are supple
They'd be surprised to find the yokel is a couple

On the chorus, they yodel, with Peter taking the lower part and Lou doing the high notes – it's a stitch!

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18 Mar 05 - 09:53 AM (#1437689)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Alaska Mike

One of the most proficient yodelers I know is my good friend (and fellow Mudcatter) Seamus Kennedy. He gets to singing his yodeling song and it sounds like there's a whole passle of yodely-odelers going at the same time. This guy is amazing. As for me, I stick to the "non-yodeling" songs. Us deep voice guys sound silly when our voices break.

Mike

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18 Mar 05 - 11:38 AM (#1437720)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: GUEST,Wesley S

I secretly long to yodel too. I recently bought a boxed set of Jimmie Rodgers - so I'll try my hand at it in the car - but I won't subject the listening public to it just yet.

I assume that Jimmie figured that yodeling was his trademark because he yodels on every single song. It gets a little tedious after a 5 CD boxed set.

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18 Mar 05 - 01:24 PM (#1437764)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: GUEST,PoppaGator (cookieless, at the backdoor)

But I got one question:
What does "yodelay-hee-ho!" mean?

Don't mean squat ~ just conveys feeling, like doo-wop or scat or Celtic mouth music, or any kind of non-verbal vocalizing where the voice functions as an instrument.

I should own up to the fact that I only developed an ability to yodel because I was such a dismal failure in my efforts to progress from streetsinging to actual paying indoor gigs. Two or three years of busking for long hours made me develop a thick skin and a give-a-shit attitude, and also kept me in a position where the single most important thng to do was to be LOUD. Ideal conditions for an apprentice yodeler!

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18 Mar 05 - 01:33 PM (#1437772)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Ernest

Reminds me of a sketch by the German comedian Loriot about people taking evening courses in yodeling: just imagine a room in a school full of grown-ups learning it by speaking in unison "yodel-didel-dodel-due" etc., afterwards asking the teacher "has this been yodel-didel-dodel-due or yodel-doedel-didel-di in the first line?"
The sketch ended with (approximately) the words:

"I am making a yodel-diploma. If you have on, you`v got something of your own!"

So this is what you need, PoppaGator ;0)

Regards
Ernest

(Susanne, Wilfried, Wolfgang: did I remember it correctly?)

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18 Mar 05 - 02:14 PM (#1437806)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: GUEST

Twarn't tedious on 78's--ya'll 'r supposed to listen to them Blue Yodels one at a time--

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18 Mar 05 - 03:39 PM (#1437877)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: GUEST,SomeYodeler

I also wanted to learn to yodel, but couldn't find anyone teaching a class. I found a two CD set which is fantastic. Give it a try.

"Learn to Yodel" by Cathy Fink.

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18 Mar 05 - 04:06 PM (#1437902)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Wesley S

I've remembered that years ago here in north Texas we used to have a band called "Cafe Noir". They were a Django style gypsy jazz band - 2 guitars, a fiddle and a string bass player. But they eventually added a guy that played a piano style accordian and - he yodeled ! It sounds really odd to combine a yodeler and a gypsy jazz band - but it worked. Strange but true.

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18 Mar 05 - 05:57 PM (#1437975)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Joybell

I've tried and tried. Really I have. I've always wanted to yodel. Just don't seem to be able to make my voice "break".
Also it would be great to call myself Yodel Lady. Probably been done.
I wish I could yodel. Can Cathy really help me find the spot I wonder? Did it really work for you Guest Some Yodeler? Cheers, Joy

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18 Mar 05 - 11:59 PM (#1438125)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Seamus Kennedy

Thanks Alaska Mike!
I'm self-taught, by listening to Bill Staines, Roy Rogers (boy, could HE yodel!), Elton Britt, Frank Ifield (my first yodeling influence), the Sons of the Pioneers, Ranger Doug of Riders in the Sky, Rex Allen, Rosalie Allen, Patsy Montana, Kenny Roberts and many others.
The first thing is to overcome any embarassment you may feel at trying to yodel.
Seriously!
Then pick a song that you'd like to do. Something short and simple, not complicated, like Hank Williams' Lovesick Blues.
Sing along with the recording as closely as you can, until you can do it on your own.
If you can scream, you can yodel. Practise a Tarzan yell to find out if you can scream or not.
I mix up my "words" - syllables, if you will, when I yodel.
Sometimes it's the "Yodel-ay -ee - dee," sometimes I don't pronounce the "d" in "yodel."
So it's more like "Yolla - lay -ee - ee."
"Yolla - lay -ee olla -lolla - lay - ee; Ay -ee - olla lay - ee - oo."
And for variety, I'll occasionally throw in simple glottal stops with no consonants in the falsetto, corresponding to the syllables. This style is more prevalent in Alpine yodeling, and it's damn hard to write.
I practise my yodeling a lot in the car, on the way to or from gigs. Unless I have company of course!
Give it a go, and don't worry about the begrudgers.
By the way Alaska Mike, Rex Allen was a sorta bass-baritone kinda singer, like yourself, and he was a brilliant yodeler.

Seamus

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19 Mar 05 - 10:11 PM (#1438626)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Azizi

Seamus,

Speaking of gigs, I learned from Artbrooks that you're going to be performing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from the 3/31st to 4/2.
I'm gathering some folks and we're planning to hear you then.

So will you be yodelling??

I look forward to meeting another 'Catter!

Azizi

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19 Mar 05 - 10:59 PM (#1438652)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Joe Offer

I have to say that this is one of the best damn thread titles I've ever seen at Mudcat.
-Joe Offer-

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20 Mar 05 - 05:29 PM (#1439180)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: GUEST

Azizi, I'll be there, and I'll yodel for you.

Seamus

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21 Mar 05 - 11:32 AM (#1439729)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: GUEST,Some Yodeler

Hi Joy,
Both my wife and I have been successful in learning to yodel from the Cathy Fink CD. There are both male and female yodelers to help with the lessons. It didn't take too long to at least recognize that we were yodelling! We've enjoyed the lessons.

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21 Mar 05 - 02:17 PM (#1439835)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Ferrara

I bought Cathy F and Marcy M's learn-to-yodel tape, some years ago. I learned to do at least a rudimentary yodel (More practice would have helped me though!) But they are very good teachers.

PoppaGator, a lot of the tameness you mentioned is a direct result of the invention of radio and phonograph! Source singers often have a very personal, strong mode of expression, and they aren't trying to hit every note exactly on pitch and in time. It makes for a unique, fascinating listening experience but of course if a modern performer recorded music that sounded like that, they would come in for a lot of criticism and would lose a lot of sales.

Dwight Diller is one performer who doesn't bow to the need to be "correct" in his singing and playing. I love his feisty attitude. On the cover of his "O Death!" CD, there is this notice: "CAUTION: Squeaky fiddle contained herein. Has caused a grinding down of Molars in many listeners. In a few celebrated rare cases, listeners have been known to become addicted. Be forewarned!" And in the liner notes of his "Dwight Diller: Harvest" CD he wrote: "All tunings are relative: you will have to figure out the pitch. I don't know how I tuned for many of the songs. I just pitched them to my voice and applied an appropriate tuning."

I suspect that often, the more an artists tries to avoid flaws, or anything that could be criticized, in their performance, the more they water it down.

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21 Mar 05 - 02:28 PM (#1439841)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: PoppaGator

Disclaimer:

I can vocalize those brief, modest little one-line "blue yodels" inserted at the end of a verse in so many Jimmie Rodgers songs and a few other country classics like Hank's "Lovesick Blues," but I make to claim to any prowess at the kind of high-speed ululation required for entire verses of "yodeling songs."

If I really liked to listen to that kind of music, I suppose I'd try my hand at imitating it, but so far I have not been so motivated.

Maybe I could do it, maybe not, but it sure would take a lot of (very private) practice.

My point is that the little yodels written into songs like "Waiting for a Train" are not really that difficult, and don't require the complete yodeling skills that one needs for those real show-off all-yodeling pieces. It's really just "Yodeling for Dummies."

Also, by the way: Joe, I really appreciate the compliment. When I got the idea to start this thread, the first thing to occur to me was the title. I had my doubts about whether to post it all, and what to say and how to express it, but in the end I was primarily motivated by the desire to put this TITLE up there.

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21 Mar 05 - 05:27 PM (#1439955)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: PoppaGator

Ferrara ~ we cross-posted; I hadn't seen your message when I began writing my last message.

You definitely make a good point; the relatively few recordings that we do have of "source" or "first-generation" folksingers are all pretty "raw," in the sense of being emotionally direct. Some of these performers may have been, let's say, less than precise in their musicianship ~ but some others were pretty dern good!

I just think ~ and it's purely a matter of personal opinion ~ that some of the subcategories of music regarded as "folk" these days allow for the inclusion of performances that are a bit too meek and mild, too colorless, for my taste.

BTW: I just noticed a typo in my previous post: In the first paragraph, "I make to claim to any prowess" should read "I make no claim..."

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02 Apr 08 - 09:19 PM (#2305058)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Genie

Well, 3 or 4 years ago I decided to go ahead and "fake" a Jimmie Rodgers type yodel in songs that called for it and even to add a semi-yodel to songs like "Lovesick Blues."   To my surprise, I got better and better with practice - even though I don't know what I'm doing. (I.e., I'm still just sort of imitating a yodeler.)    Now I even sometimes get kudos for it.
At least people don't laugh at me any more when I try to yodel. (Usually) ; )

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02 Apr 08 - 10:35 PM (#2305108)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: GUEST,leeneia

Good!

I like yodeling.

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02 Apr 08 - 10:47 PM (#2305117)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Melissa

I got very lost in a town far too small to get lost in while I was on the way to a place I had been several times before. I was yodeling in the car at the time and decided I shouldn't ever do that again.
So, the next time instead of getting lost, I just missed a turn and didn't realize it for a few miles and decided that I really shouldn't yodel in the car any more.

Then, I got stopped for speeding on New Year's Eve heading back to a party from a good deed. The guy who pulled me over sure acted suspicious at my barely concealed hilarity, but since I was obviously sober and only going a couple miles over the limit, that one was just a warning.
A couple weeks ago...stopped again.

Sometimes yodeling in the car is NOT all it's cracked up to be!

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03 Apr 08 - 01:11 AM (#2305166)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Seamus Kennedy

Last year, I was visiting family and friends in Minneapolis, and we went out to a German bierhall where there was a mini-Oktoberfest with wandering lederhosen-clad musicians playing accordions and yodeling to beat the band.

They asked for volunteers from the audience, and one of the in-laws 'volunteered' me...so I did Frank Ifield's "She Taught Me How To Yodel", and a little Swiss yodel.

Damn! I didn't have to buy a beer for the rest of the evening!

The worst thing about German food is that 4 or 5 days later, you're hungry again.

Seamus

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03 Apr 08 - 02:06 PM (#2305674)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Genie

LOL, Seamus!

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03 Apr 08 - 03:52 PM (#2305762)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: topical tom

My favourite yodelling singer as a boy, Wilf Carter (Montana Slim.

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04 Apr 08 - 02:01 PM (#2306615)
Subject: RE: Dare to Yodel!
From: Acorn4

To my wack fol diddle eye ay dee hoo!

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