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Fall and music is in the air. Up in Rocky Mountain National Park the bull elk’s favorite season is here, the trees are starting to turn into the spectacular golden hues of autumn, their antlers are polished until they nearly glow in the dark, and they’re ready for their favorite musical pastime, yodeling. Yes, you heard right, Yodeling. Many people don’t know, including the folks that study these magnificent creatures, that the majority of the elk found in the central Rocky Mountain region above 10,200′ are originally from Switzerland, the home of the yodel.

During the period of 1450 thru 1575  A.D. there was a massive migration of Rocky Mountain Elk or “Wapiti” as they’re known in the highlands of Switzerland, from the Langnauerli and Schwyzerörgeli regions. And of course those elk who came from the Schwyzerörgeli region brought along their favorite instrument, the Schwyzerörgeli Diatonic Accordion to accompany their yodeling. I mean, how could they not. It’s been their belief that you can’t yodel to anything else and some of the purists in the herd simply won’t.

They found the area in Northern Colorado, especially the high meadows of Rocky Mountain National Park, to be most like their homeland and settled there in great numbers. It wasn’t long before you heard the sounds of yodeling and of course the snappy foot-tapping rhythms of the accordion echoing off the mountainsides, filling the meadows and stream bottoms with the festive sounds of their native country like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjrlemFSVFk

Although yodeling was a way of communicating between the bulls during the off-season when one bull would be on one side of the mountain and another would be on the opposite side and they wanted to get together somewhere in the middle to have coffee and those delightful little pastries, Bräzeli, and perhaps listen to some yodeling while they dined, yodeling is now mainly done in the fall months of September and October and perhaps early November. In fact instead of being a method of displaying their musical emotions throughout the year, it has turned into a battle cry for many of the more aggressive bulls. Unfortunately it is becoming less and less popular with the young bulls as an art form who now prefer to listen to “Hootie and the Blowfish” or “Luther Vandross”, or even “Little Richard” rather than the music of their fore-fathers. It has gotten to the point where the older bulls have resorted to bringing in tutors from the motherland to instruct the younger set on the correct way to yodel. Here’s an example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJHn542lPok

The good news is the traditional sounds of yodeling are beginning to be heard again high in the back country of the Rockies. If you are fortunate enough to be nearby when the music starts be sure to listen for the incredible sounds of Switzerland in the mountains. Its yodeling time again in the big herds, don’t miss it.