Dayana Pfammatter Gurten | The first-ever yodelling graduate

Pfammatter played in a folk music ensemble with other music students and learned how to compose and arrange. “I was able to develop a strong musical acumen.” She already had yodelling experience, because yodelling has been part of her life since childhood. Her family yodelled. She also learned to play the “Schwyzerörgeli”, the accordion typically used in Swiss folk music, at a young age. Pfammatter did an apprenticeship as a pharmacy assistant after leaving school, but yodelling remained a passion.

Making a living from yodelling

She attended courses given by the Swiss Yodelling Association and, at the tender age of 23, became head of Safran yodelling club in Mund. While receiving further tuition, she found out about the new music degree at Lucerne offering yodelling as the main subject. No other Swiss university had ever unveiled such a degree. Pfammatter applied and was accepted. “It was a chance for me to be academically trained as a music tutor.”

Pfammatter has been making a living from yodelling since completing her master’s degree at the beginning of this year. She works as a vocal coach at a music school and teaches yodelling on a freelance basis. People also book her as a singer. She has deferred her back-up plan to help out at the pharmacy, because requests for her tuition services are coming in thick and fast. “It is great to be doing this on a full-time basis,” she says.

“People know me,” she says. “They know how steadfast I am.” During her studies, Pfammatter focused on experimental contemporary folk music and traditional yodelling melodies. “We listened to old, crackling recordings and transcribed the songs to preserve them for posterity.” Safeguarding and passing on the tradition to others is important to her, particularly with the next generation of yodellers in mind. Pfammatter also teaches yodelling to school children, putting into practice the musical early education skills that she acquired in Lucerne.

Yodelling courses in demand

Above all, Pfammatter is a fan of natural yodelling without words – the purest, most primal form of yodelling. “Natural yodelling is dear to my heart.” It moves her deeply, she says, and gives her goosebumps. Others feel the same way. After the Second World War, yodelling was long dismissed by the progressive urban set as quaint and parochial. But it has become hugely popular in recent years. Yodelling courses are booming in both rural and urban Switzerland – no surprise to Pfammatter. “Many people want to return to their roots and rediscover themselves in these stressful, fast-moving times.”

Some people meditate or do yoga. Others yodel. “Yodelling is very natural and primeval. It helps people to touch base,” she says. Besides teaching and practising every day, Pfammatter still runs her village yodelling club, Safran, which has the honour of hosting next year’s cantonal yodelling convention. There is a lot of preparation and planning to do. She also continues to perform in small ensembles. Her master recital in Bettmeralp at the beginning of the year – featuring two female musicians from eastern Switzerland – went so well that another performance by the trio is in the offing. Pfammatter also has a passion for Valais Blacknose sheep. “They keep me close to nature and my roots,” she says.

Link: klangwaerch.ch