How melodies are remembered
Yodellers around the Alpstein have an impressive repertoire of melodies that they can call up at any time. How do they manage this? Researchers at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, in collaboration with the Roothuus Gonten, investigated this question
Whether Appenzell Innerrhoden "Rugguusseli", Appenzell Ausserrhoden "Zäuerli" or Toggenburg "Naturjodel" - yodelling has a long tradition in the region around the Alpstein. Typical of this tradition, which is mostly learned and passed on orally, is the polyphonic yodeling. The Roothuus Gonten, the center for Appenzell and Toggenburg folk music, has an impressive collection of them.
How do yodellers manage to memorize a wealth of yodelling melodies? This question was addressed by a research team from the Lucerne School of Music in a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF. "Natural yodels may sound quite similar to the uninitiated, but on closer inspection they differ significantly, for example in terms of the melodic progression or tempo," says project leader and ethnomusicologist Raymond Ammann. Together with his team, he examined empirical and music-analytical data in sound, images and literature and compared it with statements made by yodelers.
