The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

Yodeling is a distinctive form of singing with rich roots in European culture. In the United States, yodeling is becoming increasingly rare, slowly vanishing in today's increasingly modern society. Among the Old Order Amish yodeling was never widespread. Most Amish have Germanic roots where yodeling was never a common cultural emblem. A few Amish churches, however, have distinctly Swiss roots (Sugarcreek, Ohio: Adams County, Indiana; and Webster County, Missouri). The Amish in these communities speak a slightly different dialect, a Swiss Bernese German. And among these Swiss Amish, yodeling was brought over to the New World. Even today in these small enclaves of Amish, the tradition of yodeling still persists.

I first heard yodeling after I met Lovina's mother, Elizabeth Coblentz, when I was just 18 years old. The rich music is both haunting and soothing. And if you close your eyes it doesn't take much to imagine the early origins of the Amish church in 17th century Europe. The yodel serves as an audio rope spanning the generations to this earlier time. Now, 18 years after first meeting the Eichers I get to watch Lovina's children learn to yodel and there's satisfaction in knowing the craft is safe for at least another generation.

Now we are sharing with you what has been so special to me. I recently recorded a "mini concert" consisting of Lovina, Joe, and all the children doing a traditional Swiss yodel. The yodel is then followed by a short solo yodel by Joe. As an added bonus, there is also a brief duet by Lovina and Joe posted. The total running time is under three minutes, but bears multiple listenings! We struggled with whether to make this available, but I believe it preserves their privacy and I can't find anything in Amish church doctrine that prohibits sharing an audio recording. It's really neat to hear her children learning to yodel in this soundtrack.

There is a $1.49 fee to listen to the audio. As editor of the column, I'm always struggling with determining how much the column is worth to readers and newspapers. Well, here you have a chance decide. You can pick whatever price listed that you feel a ticket to this mini-concert is worth. I would be THRILLED and so GRATEFUL if you pick something other than $1.49, but you definitely don't have to. Whatever you choose, the ticket will be cheaper than that to a Hannah Montana concert and you don't even have to leave your house! You can play the track as many times as you want over a two week period, but then to limit the Eicher's exposure to the internet and to preserve their privacy the audio selection will no longer be available. The registration/payment process only takes a few minutes. Click here to name your price and hear this audio treasure. (FREE LOGIN IS REQUIRED!)

UPDATE II: Most readers have been amazingly receptive and supportive of this yodeling endeavor, and I really appreciate that. A few have savaged me for "charging" to hear the music. I'm sure as readers from South Bend, Tacoma, Traverse City, Hammond and other places read the yodeling promo this week we'll have a "second wave" of such comments. I think perhaps I did not do a good job of explaining WHY there is a fee and WHY the yodel is not in a format that can be saved. I will go into great detail in next week's Amish Cook column about this. There are good - not greedy - reasons.

UPDATE: I really prefer people try paying via PayPal to listen to the yodel. I use PayPal all the time, it's the safest, most secure payment method on the `net. That said, some people A) are still squeamish about any online payment or B) might just not be able to figure out how to use it. So I have a "low tech alternative".....if you really want to listen to the yodel but don't want to pay online, use the CONTACT form to send an email and one of my assistants, Travis or Rachel, will contact you in the days ahead to complete the transaction so you can listen. [NOTE: You still have to register at the site first to get a FREE username and password so you can login to listen!]