Yodelers,
it’s that time of year again—time for alphorn camp, that is.
So stop putting
off learning the Swiss national instrument and start spending your first weekend in July
attending Fritz Frautschi’s short beginner’s alphorn
class in the most appropriately named alphorn-learning location in
Switzerland—the Horn Mountain.
Not far from Gstaad, the Hornberg is your stage, the cows are your audience,
and the Hotel Restaurant Hornfluh is your après-horn, serving you that
well-earned drink after a hard day of practice.
Fritz
Frautschi founded the Swiss Alphorn School over twenty years ago and offers courses in
the Bernese Oberland. He credits the popularity of his
alphorn classes with people’s desire to get back to
nature. Unfortunately, learning to blow one of the world’s largest wind
instruments isn’t so natural. The alphorn is 3.5 meters long and has no finger
holes, tubes, or valves, so all note variations are controlled by the speed and
force of your lip vibrations on the mouthpiece. According to one student, the
more you kiss your spouse, the easier blowing the alphorn becomes.
It’s much
easier to learn the alphorn if you’ve previously played an instrument like
the tuba or trumpet. But regardless of your musical experience, Frautschi prioritizes teaching you how to make a lovely
sound—which is great, because a beginner playing the alphorn often produces a
sound that resembles a dying cow.
Speaking of cows, the alphorn
attracts them. Play a few notes (good or bad) and cattle come calling. The
alphorn is how the farmers bring their herds home and how you, the non-farmer,
can entice an unintentional but very committed audience. Tourists may flock to
you as well. And if The
Frau’s experience counts for anything, you don’t have to be a master player to
get a following.
As well as
attracting cows and tourists, the alphorn also inspires Swiss conversation. The
instrument’s history may have a lot to do with this; besides
bringing the cows home, the alphorn was also used to communicate with fellow
herdsmen across many valleys.
The Frau
once called the alphorn “Switzerland’s secret social networking tool” because
all the normal cultural formalities that apply in Switzerland are set aside if
you carry an alphorn. Fellow alphorn players, strangers or not, are always on
first-name terms with each other. So if you’ve always wanted to get to know a
particular Swiss person better, now you know what to do.
Come home
from alphorn camp and play the Swiss national instrument on
a city street, and you will have discovered the key to Swiss culture (and
perhaps a nice source of income).
For more information:
Weekend
Alphorn Course on Horn Mountain: June 30-July 2, 2017.
Price per person: CHF
450
P.S. You can enjoy 98.9 more ideas like this in The Frau’s new Swiss travel book, 99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a
Local.
