An 18-year-old yodeler who uses the acoustics of a subway staion to hone her vocal style is competing in finals of the "MTV's Got Talent" yodeling show.
Julia Hoekstra-van Westen, will join acts that include a 95-year-old yodeling singer that tap dances and a 12-year-old violin player that yodels inbetween tunes for the two-hour showdown in Amsterdam. Audience voting will determine who wins the $1 million Euros top prize.
She was 12 when she got lessons from a man about yodeling and learned the vocal technique that quickly and repeatedly changes the pitch of a note from normal voice to falsetto.
She says her yodeling mentor was the loveable, Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile, a music teacher.
"I feel life gave me these lips, and I'm supposed to do something with them so that others could feel good. So I am," Julia says.
