Hi,
I got this from another discussion group ( on Sheldrake's morphogenetic
fields ). enjoy it.
Caio
> I found something very interesting. The source is a bit goofy, but it
> can be followed up with the study of a more serious journal. Anyway,
> here it is:
>
> Dave Barry is a syndicated columnist. I have no use for his somewhat
> conservative politics, but he's a humorist, and his stock & trade is to
> look at human foibles. I think the guy is pretty funny. But he doesn't
> make stuff up. So I'm inclined to take him at his word when he quotes a
> college professor named Cherrill P. Heaton who wrote an article for a
> journal called "Popular Music and Society". Heaton's article, according
> to Barry, is called "Air Ball: Spontaneous Large Group Precision
> Chanting". I will quote Barry's description of Heaton's article, which
> will explain Heaton's discovery and demonstrate a bit of Barry's Humor:
>
> "The article concerns a phenomenon that often occurs at basketball
> games when a visiting player shoots an 'air ball'--a shot that misses
> everything. Immediately, the crowd, in a sportsmanlike effort to cause
> the this player to commit suicide, will start chanting
> 'AIR-ball...AIR-ball.'
> Professor Heaton...noticed an odd thing about the 'AIR BALL' chant:
> The crowd members always seemed to start at precisely the same time, and
> in perfect tune with each other...
> But there's more. Using his VCR, Professor Heaton taped a bunch of
> basketball games; he discovered that, no matter where the games were
> played, almost all the crowds chanted 'AIR-BALL' _in the same
> key_--namely F, with the 'Air' being sung on an F note, and the 'Ball'
> being sung on a D note." [Emphasis in Original]
>
> Barry goes on to explain his own informal experiments with this. (He is
> an amateur musician.) Generally, he found that people who could carry a
> tune did indeed, when asked, sing the chant in the Key of F. This story
> is, I think, worth checking out. If the Heaton article is for real (as
> I expect it is), we will have a very intriguing morphic effect.
>
> Gordon
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