Music

The sound of music has always been alive and kicking but more recently, the Alpine hills are alive with the sound of that well know tradition of yodelling.

This is a very traditional form of singing. It involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or  “chest voice” to the falsetto/head register – making a high-low-high-low sound.

The English word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln meaning “to utter the syllable jo” (pronounced “yo” in English).  It is said that the calls may have been endearments that shepherds used to express affection to their herds and the earliest record of a yodel is in 1545, where it is described as “the call of a cowherd” from Appenzell.

Some traveling minstrels were yodeling in the United Kingdom and the United States as early as the eighteen-hundreds. Most music historians state that the first recording of yodeling was by Riley Puckett in 1924.

In 1928, Jimmie Rodgers blended traditional work, blues, hobo and cowboy music and released his first recording “Blue Yodel No 1 “, thus starting an instant national craze for yodeling in the United States.

So how do you fancy trying out an unique art of singing with a little “Oh-di-lay-ee-ay, di-lay-dee-oh, de-lay-ee” in the Austrian hills just like Julie Andrews in “The Sound of Music”.

Now is your chance by taking a visit to the Alpine hills and joining the many tourists who are taking part.

How do you find an original and unique name for a music band? There are so many out there but look below to find out how some of the big bands decided on theirs:

Ace of Base – named after the band’s first studio in the basement of a car repair shop. They considered themselves the ‘Aces’ of the studio.

Arctic Monkeys — The name was made up by the guitarist, Jamie Cook, while at school.

Coldplay – originally called Starfish, the band asked to use the name when another band – named Coldplay – disbanded.

Depeche Mode — inspired by a French fashion magazine of the same name.

Duran Duran – after playing at Barbarella’s nightclub in Birmingham, the band named themselves after Dr Durand-Durand, villain of sci-fi film Barbarella.

Green Day – originally called Sweet Children, the band changed its name to avoid confusion of a band with the same name. They got their new name from a song by Billie Joe Armstrong entitled ‘Green Day’, a slang term for a day spent smoking marijuana.

Kaiser Chiefs – named after the South African kaizer Chiefs Football Club.

Oasis – first called The Rain, but renamed when Liam Gallagher joined the band. Inspired by an Inspiral Carpets tour poster – one of the venues was Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.

Pink – Her stage name “P!nk” was a nickname when she was singing in Philadelphia clubs as a teen.

Radiohead – the record label didn’t like their first choice of On a Friday – So they changed it to Radio Head in reference to the 1986 Talking Heads song from the album True Stories.

U2 – it is a type of spy plane from the USA. Bono once said that the band name came from its interactivity with the audience… as in “you too.

These are a few facts about some musicians on Valentine’s day –

In 1961, The Beatles played at the Casanova Club, Liverpool and were captured on film for the first time.

In 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a week-long stay as co-hosts on the Mike Douglas Show.

Also in 1972, Grease opened off Broadway, where it ran for the next decade for a total of 3,388 performances.

In 1973, David Bowie collapsed from exhaustion at the end of his show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

In 1998, Madonna performed her first club performance in more than ten years at the Roxy in New York.

and in 1999, Elton John appeared as himself on a special edition of The Simpsons.