Warblers can now “get a degree-he-heeee” in yodelling, according to media reports.
“The whole yodelling scene will benefit from [the students’] new skills,” Rass told Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The warbling singing style, traditionally used by herders in the Alps, was popularised back in the 1960s by the film The Sound of Music. It had another revival last year when Romania’s Eurovision contestants scored a top ten placing with their party song Yodel It! - a mix of rap, rock and yodelling.
The yodelling degree will be part of the folk music programme at Lucerne University. As well as learning how to yodel, students will also complete modules on the history and theory of the singing style, as well as business workshops.
Not everyone is singing the university’s praises, however.
The Daily Telegraph notes that Karin Niederberger, president of the Federal Yodelling Federation, warns that academic rigidity could undermine the regional variations and unique traditions of the art form.
-
Nnela Kalu’s historic Turner Prize winTalking Point Glasgow-born artist is first person with a learning disability to win Britain’s biggest art prize
-
Bridget Riley: Learning to See – an ‘invigorating and magical ensemble’The Week Recommends The English artist’s striking paintings turn ‘concentration into reverie’
-
‘Stakeknife’: MI5’s man inside the IRAThe Explainer Freddie Scappaticci, implicated in 14 murders and 15 abductions during the Troubles, ‘probably cost more lives than he saved’, investigation claims
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
