Heart and Home

I'll leave this blog (for now) with a final look at our stay in Slovenia. I never imagined that I'd be able to visit this beautiful country, but again, many thanks to the Lilly Foundation for making it possible.

It was a wonderful feeling to be able to cross over what was once a highly guarded border between Italy and Yugoslavia. On July 4, 2009 all we had to do was step over a manhole cover in Nova Gorica. My, how times have changed! Nova Gorica only became a city after WWII.

Sill, thoughts of my father's family were with me on this day.

We were lucky (and John was brave) enough to rent a car to enjoy the last part of our trip. We got the car in Nova Gorica (in the Park Hotel and Casino!) and drove up the west border near Italy, along the Soca river. The twists and turns were magnificent. This video is a short portion of the beginning of the drive. The real white-knuckle part came higher in the mountains. Honestly, it wasn't too bad, but the whole trip to Bohinj was so amazing and overwhelmingly beautiful that I couldn't even try to film it. Hold on to your hats, here's a bit of the drive:

The flag of Slovenia features Triglav Mountain. Here's my favorite photo of the real thing.

Photos from Cremona and Venice

I enjoyed our detour from the Alps to the farmland of Italy in the Po River valley. I posted several photos from Cremona and Venice on Flickr. Click on "sets" to see each city and read the descriptions. The scenery was beautiful, and the history (and opulence) in Venice

was nearly overwhelming.

In addition, here are some short video clips. The first is a view from the train from Switzerland on the way to Cremona.

Next, are the sounds we heard at 6:30 AM the first morning we were there. I looked out the window to see the quiet plaza the night before transformed into a bustling farmer's market. I could wake up to this sound every day (but maybe not so early.)

John took this great video in the evening. The colors in the sky were beautiful and the feeling was so peaceful. I hope that translates in the video. You'll hear some crazy birds (starlings?) settling in for the evening, too. You'll see four important buildings in the video. The first is the bell tower (one of the tallest in all of Italy, they tell me). Next is the the Church and the Baptistry. Finally, the red brick building with the arched facade is the town hall and home to the String Instrument Museum.

And finally, this is a view inside the Baptistry. I think it was favorite church in Italy (and we visited LOTS of them!)

Video from Dagmersellen

I had a lovely, lovely time with the singers in the ICDA Summer Choir. What a great group of kids (chaperones and teachers, too) I love singing with people! That's why it makes it even more special to share some more moments from my yodeling trip with them (and any one else checking in with the blog.) The videos for this posting are random things from the ceremonies and parade in Dagmersellen. First up: the opening marching bell parade. I mentioned this on one of the very first posts, but you can't appreciate it until you see and hear it!

The jodeling festival concluded with an official ceremony and the transferring of the flag - much like I've seen done at the Olympics. Here's a short video of the community band (quite good!) and the flag ceremony.

That was followed by a chorus of yodelers who were - I believe - singing a song composed especially for the event.

Finally, the whole crowd and many other spectators moved the to the streets of Dagmersellen to watch the parade. It was a beautiful, sunny, perfect day for a parade that was like no other I've seen! Two highlights were: the cows that started the parade (beautifully dressed in sunflowers) and, the band on horseback (complete with tympani!)

The next day's paper estimated the crowd at 55,000 (which I believe to be accurate) and the whole parade was televised by a Swiss TV station.

That's all I'll add about Switzerland (for now) The next post will be about Cremona, Italy.

Yodel Lesson

This blog entry includes a video clip of my yodeling lesson with Marie Theres von Gunten. Our interpreter was her niece, Monika Huber-Felder. Marie Theres is one of THE most famous yodelers and composers in Switzerland. How kind of her to take a couple of hours to work with me!

The yodeling sensation was much more difficult that I thought it would be (and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be easy to begin with) As a classically trained singer and some one who specializes in choral blend, the vocal technique is the opposite of what I've done for 30 or more years. I've spent my whole singing life in "head voice." As a bel canto type singer, I've tried to blend my head voice as far down into the check register as I can. Now, Marie-Theres was asking me to not only highlight the chest voice, but to actively exploit it. I felt absolutely no vocal strain, - it was a natural and healthy way to sing - it was just different. I noticed that if I concentrated and slowly tried to apply what she was saying, that I could make that noticable shift in voice ranges. It certainly was something I would need to practice if I really wanted to pursue yodeling.

I knew from the beginning that Swiss yodeling was not a vocal trick and would not be full of gymnastics we often hear in cowboy or even Tyrolian yodeling. The melodies in this style of yodeling are lyrical and beautiful. They reflect the mountains from which they come and take advantage of the echos that would result from the valleys. The song Marie Theres helped me learn (?) was one of her own compositions called "Batruef-Jutz" about calling the animals back home after a day of grazing in the pastures near Mount Pilatus. She also gave me study sheet with the 5 basic types of "yodel patterns," sort of like an excerpt page for any other instrument (rudaments) Almost all yodels can be connected/traced to these 5 patterns.

A lot of yodeling is just singing - breath, articulation, vowel formation, posture, support, etc. All of these things translate, no matter what the language. Several times during the lesson (not in the clip) we had discussions (half in German and half in English) about similarities in vocal technique. No interpreter was needed (but it did help)

I was not able to really successfully yodel, but what was I to expect in just 2 hours? The experience was wonderful and now I know so much more than I did before. That's the point! Our meeting ended with hugs and the exchange of gifts. Marie-Theres gave me one of her song books and the CD that goes with it. This is a real treasure, and is better than any souvenir I could buy!

Speaking of singing, I'm off to conduct the ICDA Children's Choir at the summer conference in Indianapolis for the next few days. Check back if you're still interested. I have videos and more photos to post of the Jodel Festival closing ceremonies and fantastic parade.

Flag Swinging and Alphorn Playing In Dagmersellen

I didn't know much about the flag swinging portion of the jodelfest before we arrived in Dagmersellen. It was something completely new and a bit baffling to me. I had only seen flag work done that was choreographed with the music of marching bands. That was not the case in Switzerland.

Apparently, this was nearly a lost folk art until it was revived and supported by the Jodeling Foundation. This first video shows a complete flag swinging competition. From what we could tell, the patterns are all standardized and choreographed, but did not relate to a specified beat, rhythmic pattern, or music of any kind. Apparently, proper form included keeping one hand on the hip at all times and the contestant was NOT allowed to step outside of the circle which looked like a bulls-eye on the floor. (We heard groans from the audience when this happened.) The competition was held in a specially built facility with high clearance for tossing and it protected the competitors from the wind.

I already posted a picture of this women's alphorn ensemble, but they were my favorite. Here's another photo and a sample of their performance. The cowbells you might hear in the background are from the farm behind the venue.

The final video is from the Friday evening entertainment. It combines the Dagmersellen Alphorn Quartet and two flag swingers. Notice that the flag waving has nothing to do with the music!