Elfried Haese and yours truly presented a half-hour program introducing the Alpine Jodler and the zither to the 18 children at the 2014 Kinder Kamp at Carl Schurz Park in Stone Bank, Wisconsin, Friday August 15.

The youngsters were attentive and eager participants, even right after a lunch of Käzspätzl and Currywurst. Elfriede explained the various types of Jodlers from the early livestock herders to the more contemporary. The zither accompaniment worked well with her presentation.

All the kids had enough music background to understand the concept of the do-mi-so-do tone scale. The string arrangement on the zither, at first confusing and confounding to them, was explained in terms of this do-mi-so-do harmony, and its useful combination with the shape of the human hand, to produce harmonious chords. What was at first confusing and confounding then seemed to make sense to them.

If ever the opportunity presents itself again, I would (1) add one or two rousing tunes familiar to youngsters for a sing-along, and (2) definitely bring along some very small zither rings. A couple of the kids really wanted to sit down at the instrument and bring out a couple of notes. Missed opportunity!

Rudi Mueller

Thank you Rudi for sharing this. This is great exposure for the zither. For all it’s an informative folk music lesson. For some it may be the beginning of a lifelong pursuit.

Dave