True or Falsetto

Schickele Mix Episode #62

Part of The Schickele Mix Online Fan Archive

Premiere
1995-09-16
“Peter, are you ready?”
That's exactly what I am

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Transcript

[This is a machine-generated transcript, cleaned up and formatted as HTML. You can download the original as an .srt file.]

That's exactly what I am. Here's the theme.
[No speech for 14s.]
Hello there, I'm Peter Schickele, and this is Schickele Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal. Or, as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good.
And the bills for the good stuff we are about to receive are paid by this very radio station right here on your dial. It's a well-known fact that the scenes in Shakespeare in which women disguised themselves by dressing up as men
had an extra frisson in Shakespeare's day due to the fact that the women's parts were being played by boys. So what you had was a boy impersonating a girl impersonating a boy.
Not only were women not allowed to act on the stage,
they couldn't sing in church either.
But composers didn't want to limit themselves to writing nothing but basement music, vocally wise speaking.
They wanted some treble voices in there too. Well, they had several choices. One is to go the stage route and use boys whose voices hadn't changed yet. That tradition has continued in some church choirs to the present day,
especially in England. Boys' voices, particularly in groups, have a quality that people tend to describe as pure.
This is partly due to the fact that boys sing with a straight tone
using little or no vibrato.
Anyway, another option is to have grown men sing in their falsettos.
There's still a tradition of that too, especially in England.
Not in larger choirs, but in small vocal ensembles and solo work.
Men who sing in the alto and soprano ranges are these days usually called countertenors, although they don't generally sound as pure as boys, that is, as, quote, pure.
I keep running into this problem in radio that you can't see me doing the quotation marks with my fingers.
Now, if we could just get Schickele Mix on television, that wouldn't be a big problem. Oh, all right, all right.
Man, talk about a hair trigger.
That irrelevancy alarm goes off at the slightest.
All right already!
I was saying that countertenors do sound noticeably different from women. Here are two performances of the beginning of a medieval English song. Can you tell which performance is which sex? I should say that they're not exactly comparable.
One has some doubling, that is, two singers on a part, and the other doesn't.
But I think you'll hear the difference.
[No speech for 81s.]
The first group was the Anonymous Four, all women, and the second was the Hilliard Ensemble, all men.
That was Eddie Bay or Eddie Bell Too.
How do you like my old English pronunciation? Glad I can't hear your answer.
Today's program is called True or Falsetto, and here's a man who deserves a lot of credit for the popularity of the male alto voice in the 20th century.
[No speech for 102s.]
Alfred Deller, singing I Will Give My Love an Apple. The sound is exquisite, but it's not strong, it's not robust. The falsetto is naturally weaker than the chest voice, particularly in the low range of the falsetto. Yet 18th century accounts of male sopranos and altos, most of whom were Italian, talk about how strong their voices were, sometimes louder than women's voices, filling large theaters.
How can that be?
Well, folks, it's because those 18th century guys were castrati. That's right, you heard me correctly. From the 16th to the 19th century, especially in Italy, one of the cradles of European Christianity, it was a clandestine but common practice to encourage boys with especially beautiful voices to submit to the surgeon's knife before their voices changed, thus ensuring that they wouldn't change.
Hey, listen, the best of the castrati became rich and famous opera stars.
And besides, kids are a nuisance, right?
That practice has died out, I'm glad to report. But there are some singers around now who have real power up high,
even without artificial dissemination.
John Ferranti, who was part of the PDQ Bach concerts for over 20 years, was a real ham and a good musician with a strong, robust voice.
Like most falsetto singers, he was a baritone, although quite a high baritone.
But unlike Alfred Deller, who tended to remain in his falsetto, even at the bottom of the range, John switched between his regular voice and his falsetto, and he had worked hard to minimize the break, to make it show as little as possible. And there was a window of about a fifth, that is, from middle C up to G, those 5 scale steps there, in which he could sing with either voice, choosing the one that made the most sense in context.
Here's the beginning of PDQ Bach's cantata Iphigenia in Brooklyn.
Notice that he...
By the way, I'm going to sing it a bit lower than he does. I don't have his range, that's for sure.
Notice that he sings the 1st phrase...
As Hyperion
in his chest voice, as he does the 2nd, even though it's quite high, he wants the power.
Across
Then he switches into his powerful falsetto for the 3rd phrase.
The flaming sky, his chariot, chariot, chariot, his chariot did ride.
Now that 3rd phrase actually goes lower than the 2nd did.
In the 2nd, you remember, he was still in his chest voice. But this time he stays in his falsetto, because the phrase doesn't have to end as loud as it began.
He sings the next 2 phrases in falsetto.
Iphigenia, nia, nia, Iphigenia
And then if you listen carefully, you can hear that the beginning of the next phrase is in his chest tone.
Iphigenia, his self in Brooklyn found
But unlike with my singing there, with him you don't notice where he goes back to falsetto at all for the end.
Here he is.
There's Hyperion
Across
The flaming sky, his chariot, chariot, chariot, his chariot did ride.
Iphigenia, nia, nia, Iphigenia, Iphigenia His self in Brooklyn found
John Ferranti singing the beginning of the first aria of Iphigenia in Brooklyn by P.D.Q. Bach. Sorry for that rowdy audience there, most inappropriate.
Now what if, instead of trying to disguise the break in your voice, you try to emphasize it. You try to make it as obvious as possible. You snap from one voice to the other.
Here's what you get.
Iphigenia
[No speech for 12s.]
That was Leonard Emanuel of Sampson County, North Carolina, doing some hollering on a New World Records LP called I'm On My Journey Home.
Now, you work that voice change up to where you can do it real fast, and you're ready to become a practitioner of one of our most sophisticated vocal techniques.
You're ready to enter the Valhalla of vocal quick-change artists.
Iphigenia
[No speech for 156s.]
I mean, all right. That was Streit Jodler.
Streit means coral. And that was the Original Oststeiger Trio, Rossmann Dirndl und die kleine Manuela, the little Manuela, who is obviously the Shirley Temple of yodeling.
I'm Peter Schickele.
The program is Schickele Mix from PRI,
Public Radio International.
The two basic attributes of yodeling, as most of us think of it now, are the switching back and forth between chest voice and falsetto, and the use of nonsense syllables that enhance the effect. Now, I'm not a yodelologist.
I don't know how yodeling actually developed. But let's listen to the farmers and herdsmen of Appenzell, Switzerland.
It's a big deal there when they take the cows up to the high Alpen pastures each year.
The people wear festival dress, and three of the cattle wear big ceremonial cowbells. The men's vocalizing seems to float in an area between formal music and keeping cows in line sounds.
yodeling
[No speech for 74s.]
You know, I love that cut.
I can almost imagine them to be 19th century American cowboys, singing in that wide-open-spaces way just for themselves and their cattle. Interesting that the two centers of yodeling should be Switzerland and the American West. But back to Appenzell.
When they reach the Alpine hut, the men ring the cowbells in a regular fashion and sing some songs called Zöhrli in harmony.
yodeling
[No speech for 82s.]
Zöhrli can be sung solo as well.
A good time is while you're doing the milking.
yodeling
[No speech for 15s.]
In the town of Urnesch on New Year's Eve and also on January 13th, the old New Year's Eve of the Julian calendar, groups of masked men wearing costumes and cowbells go from farmyard to farmyard, starting out early in the morning, wishing the farmers Happy New Year.
yodeling
[No speech for 106s.]
Now we certainly hear the voice breaks in there, and they seem to be singing just syllables, not words.
But it's so relaxed, so slow, so mournful and sweet at the same time.
It seems a long way from that to this.
[No speech for 26s.]
yodeling
[No speech for 109s.]
The Wolfgang Linder Band doing Meine Jodelwelt, My Yodel World.
My yodel world is better than your yodel world. Here's a tripartite song cycle called The Bad, the Good and the Unbelievable.
Those adjectives refer only to the yodeling, by the way, not necessarily to any other aspect of the number. See you in about seven and a half minutes.
yodeling
[No speech for 413s.]
That was a little song cycle called The Bad, the Good and the Unbelievable. We began with the sound of music, with Frederica von Stade as Maria.
And I've got to say, now I want to say, I am a big fan of hers.
I count myself as a fan. And seeing her do Carabino, for instance, in Marriage of Figaro, is one of the best things I've ever seen.
But she's not a yodeler. And I don't want to get into trouble here. I also work with the producers of this album here.
Or at least, I don't know, I did work with them before this broadcast. But it's just too bad that a number that's obviously supposed to be about yodeling doesn't have any yodeling in it. Now, I've got to say that that's no accident here.
If you get a fine singer, such as Frederica von Stade, classical singers don't like to yodel.
It's hard on their voices.
Classical singers work to get a smoothness throughout their whole range, from the top to the bottom. And they don't like to break that.
They're afraid, with very good reason, I'm sure, they're going to in some way damage their voice or make it raspier than would be if they don't do that. So I understand very much why she doesn't do it.
Next we have Roy Rogers. And I think his yodeling is very nice because it's so relaxed and effortless.
It just sounds like the easiest thing in the world, which, of course, was part of his whole personality. Now, for instance, one of the numbers we've got coming up in the next suite, the yodeling has a hard edge to it, and it's good because it makes you really feel that the guy is suffering.
But with Roy Rogers, it has this wonderful laid-back feel to it.
And then finally, that was the last one,
was Der Formel-Einz-Wanzins-Kesluch-Brutal-Yodler, which he announces at the beginning.
Now, unfortunately, I don't really speak German, and some of that German doesn't seem to be in my dictionary.
Formel-Einz is Formula One.
Wanzins has something to do with madness.
Kesluch, Käse is cheese, Luch is hole. Is that Swiss cheese?
Brutal-Yodler.
I think it means that he is one heck of a yodeler, to put it in real colloquial English. It is one of the most amazing things that I've ever heard, and it's on a CD from a series that we played a couple of things from before, Die Schönsten Yodler der Berge, The Most Beautiful Yodlers of the Mountains.
I'm Peter Schickele.
The program is Schickele Mix!
Yeah, I've got to try that with echo next time.
From PRI, Public Radio International.
Our second song cycle has five numbers and covers a lot of territory.
Not all of the selections feature yodeling proper, but they all feature the voice breaking in an obvious and controlled way.
This song cycle is entitled Who You Gonna Call? Voice Busters.
It's about 11 minutes long.
I went down to the river to watch the fish swim by
But I got to the river so lonesome I wanted to die, oh Lord And then I jumped in the river but the doggone river was dry
She's long gone and now I'm lonesome blue
I had me a woman who couldn't be true
She made me for my money and she made me blue A man needs a woman that he can lean on
But my leaning post is done, left, and gone
She's long gone and now I'm lonesome blue
I'm gonna find me a river, one that's cold as ice
And when I find me that river, Lord, I'm gonna pay the price, oh Lord I'm going down in it three times, but Lord, I'm only coming up twice
She's long gone and now I'm lonesome blue
She told me on Sunday she was checking me out
Along about Monday she was nowhere about
And here it is Tuesday, ain't had no news
I got them gone but not forgotten blues
She's long gone and now I'm lonesome blue
I'm gonna find me a river, one that's cold as ice
And when I find me that river, Lord, I'm gonna pay the price, oh Lord
I'm gonna find me a river, one that's cold as ice
And when I find me that river, Lord, I'm only coming up twice
Zillertal, du bist mein Freund
Da ham die Buam a sakre schneid
Da gitt skansen som tar jag Sa du med vem som kom fram
Zillertal, du bist mein Freund
Da gitt skansen som tar jag
Zillertal, du bist mein Freund
Da gitt skansen som tar jag Sa du med vem som kom fram
Zillertal, du bist mein Freund
[No speech for 31s.]
You cheated me and made me lonely
I tried to be your very own There'll be a day you want me only
But when I leave, I'll be a long time gone
Be a long time gone
Yes, when I leave, I'll be a long time gone
You're gonna be sad, you're gonna be weeping
You're gonna be blue and all alone
You'll regret the day you see me leaving
Cause when I leave, I'll be a long time gone
Be a long time gone
Yes, when I leave, I'll be a long time gone You'll see my face through tears and sorrow
You'll miss the love you called your own
Maybe there'll be no tomorrow
Cause when I leave, I'll be a long time gone
Be a long time gone
Yes, when I leave, I'll be a long time gone
[No speech for 21s.]
You're gonna be sad, you're gonna be weeping You're gonna be blue and all alone
You'll regret the day you see me leaving
Cause when I leave, I'll be a long time gone
Be a long time gone
Yes, when I leave, I'll be a long time gone
You're gonna be sad, you're gonna be weeping You're gonna be blue and all alone
You're gonna be blue and all alone
Who you gonna call?
Voice Busters.
We had five numbers there. The first one was the great Hank Williams, Long Gone Lonesome Blues.
And as I mentioned before, that sort of edge that he has in his yodeling, you just feel a tremendous amount of pain in the voice.
That guy certainly knew how to suffer, and to sing, and to write, too.
The next one was a fascinating track from Ghana. The song is called Maralee. And the notes say,
A young girl sings this song in her hometown of Yeji
in central Ghana, where she is known for her compelling vocal technique and sunny disposition.
By a controlled buzzing at the back of the roof of her mouth, she can produce two and sometimes three pitches simultaneously. She often sort of cracks her voice into that mode, as it were.
Then, in a change of pace, I think you could say, we went into Zillertal, Du bist mein Freud.
Although, from listening to Herr Linda sing that, I obviously don't have the right accent there.
Zillertal would be the Ziller Valley, You are my joy. And that's the first time I've heard Dixieland yodeling and rock and roll yodeling. It certainly shows that they're trying to keep yodeling up to date. Next thing you know, we'll have grunge yodeling.
Then the Everly Brothers, Long Time Gone, from their album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. And there, there's just one break. It's not really yodeling, but it's very evocative.
Love that song.
And finally, from one of the great albums of all time, the Georgian Voices, the Rustavi Choir.
And I guess that's the name of the album, Georgian Voices.
We heard a tune called Ali Pasha, a historical song, or an historical song, if you prefer. And that featured a particular kind of yodeling called Krimantuli. This is from the area of Guria and Ajaria, it says here.
Couldn't prove it by me. But it says that the Krimantuli part requires special vocal mastery, and the relatively few Krimantuli singers command great respect.
Here's a surprise.
Stravinsky liked this music.
Okay, now, you know, one of the things that occurred to me
when I went to that Swiss stuff from the Appenzell, the thing where we heard the herders and the farmers singing, is that already, although they sing with a rather funky intonation, all the tunes alternate between the tonic and dominant. And those are sort of in traditional mainstream classical music, those are the two most often used chords.
The tonic is the home bass chord.
Let's call this the tonic. And the chord built on the 5th scale step, la-dee-dee, is called the dominant.
And you get the dum-dum-bum, bum-bum-bum-bum,
dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum.
All those things are just tonic and dominant. And those things we heard the people of Appenzell singing went back and forth between the tonic and the dominant.
Although it was, as I say, their intonation gave it a piquance that you don't necessarily have in Mozart or Haydn. What I noticed when I was listening through, preparing for this program, when I was listening through the album The Most Beautiful Yodlers of the Mountains, was that out of, what is it, 22 cuts on this album, only 2 of them don't start tonic-dominant and then go back to the tonic.
Only 2 songs out of 22.
So that means that this is a tradition that has continued. And it's sort of a hidebound tradition, if you ask me.
Just for the fun of it, because we have the time to do this, I'd like to just go through all the tracks on this album.
And I'll just take my word for it
that we're talking tonic and dominant here, except for 2 instances.
I'm not going to bother to identify these, but we'll just start with track 1.
Here we go. That's the tonic.
Dominant.
Tonic.
Okay, let's move on to track 2 here.
Tonic. Dominant. Tonic.
Tonic.
Okay, track number 3.
That's tonic and dominant and back to tonic.
Here's the tune.
Tonic. Dominant.
Tonic.
Okay, number 4 here, let's see what it has.
Tonic.
Dominant.
Tonic.
I think you're beginning to get the idea here.
Let's go on to 5.
Okay.
Oh, this one starts with a dominant and goes to the tonic.
Dominant. Tonic.
We're talking variety here.
Okay, number 6.
That's the tonic.
Dominant. Tonic.
That was an intro, here's the tune.
Tonic.
Dominant.
This is the dominant, guess what comes next.
Tonic.
Okay, on to number 7 here.
Tonic.
Dominant.
Tonic.
Number 8 here.
Tonic.
Dominant.
Tonic. Number 9.
Ooh, production here.
We've heard the tonic and the dominant so far.
Tonic.
That's the dominant.
I wonder what's going to come next.
It's the tonic. Okay, number 10.
This is an intro.
Tonic. Dominant.
I tell you what, let's not go through all 22 of these, okay? Just take my word for it.
Yes, we're talking about a real time-honored form here. And that's about it. Now, I have been fooling with the echo here on this state-of-the-art board here.
And I want to close with a little production number of my own. What I want to do is I'm going to climb up on one of these mountains overlooking the Tsilhirtal
and call out to my alter ego, Professor Peter Schickele, who's standing on the opposite side of the valley.
Yodel-a-ee-oo! Yodel-a-ee-oo!
That's Schickele Mix for this week.
Our program is made possible with funds provided by this radio station and its members.
We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an official playlist of all the music on today's program with record numbers and everything.
Just refer to the link below.
This is Peter Schickele saying goodbye and reminding you that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi.
You're looking good. See you next week.
[No speech for 12s.]
If you'd like a copy of that playlist I mentioned, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Schickele Mix.
That's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Schickele Mix.
Care of Public Radio International, 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55403.
Public Radio International.