Measuring the tuning accuracy of thousands singing in unison: An english premier football league table of fans’ singing tunefulness
David M. Howard · Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology · 2004
Tunefulness in singing is well understood in the context of solo stage performance, singing in small groups and singing in choirs, with or without accompaniment, and it can be readily measured under laboratory conditions. When thousands of people are singing outside in support of their football team, however, the singing is impromptu; there is no conductor, no starting note, and generally no accompaniment. This paper describes the measurement of the tunefulness of the singing of fans of the twenty clubs in the 2001-2002 English Premier League. The technique adopted is unusual in that it makes direct reference to the formal definition of pitch as a subjective phenomenon. The results are presented in the form of a 2001-2002 English Premier League football fans singing league table.