30 January—To save you embarrassing yourselft on Yodel for Your Neighbors Day, here are some recorded yodels you can play loud.

Briefly, yodeling is a form of singing that involves sudden and repeated alterations of vocal register from low-pitched chest voice on vocalic AH, OH, OO to high-pitched falsetto voice on vocalic AY and EE; consonants may be used to introduce the leaps from low to high. Get it? Don’t worry. Yodeling isn’t easy.

The word “yodel” comes from the German “jodeln,” (“j” pronounced “y,” of course), meaning “to utter the syllable ‘jo’.” And Jodl was Nazi Generaloberst (four-star general) Alfred Jodl, who in 1946 was executed for his war crimes.

While yodeling is usually associated with the Alps and American West, it’s actually found in folk music from around the world, including Pacific islands and Africa. American yodeling is essentially a fusion of Alpine and African yodeling traditions.

So now to the music: First, Roy Rogers, a damn good American yodeler. Second, Franz (Franzl) Lang, der Jodlerkönig (the Yodel King), a virtuoso Alpine yodeler from Germany. Third, a virtuoso Alpine a cappella yodeling ensemble (of which there are more than many, all magnificent) from Switzerland. Fourth, Australian Mary Schneider, who yodels the classics: