i've taken the habit of humming beethoven's 9th symphony when i am either embarassed or pressured into thinking really hard. the loudness and intensity depends upon the gravity and severity of the situation.
i found this habit strange since i was not weaned on mozart and beethoven. my auditory finesse is limited to whatever the neighbors play (from renz verano to disturbed) for the day. in fact, i only knew that the song that has the lyrics "joyful, joyful we adore thee..." was the 9th symphony when i heard it being played over an anime called the "gunslinger girl". so far, i have heard the master's composition in movies like mr. jones (a movie about bipolar disorder), matchpoint (a woody allen film, with scarlett johanson...'nuff said), cruel intentions (with sarah michelle gellar and ryan philippe) and another anime called read or die (about books and paper). whatever the reason, i find humming the music a stress-buster, be it before, during or after an exam. other than that, i do it to annoy my seatmate. effective, but still strange.
until i learned from friends that my father loves singing the star-spangled banner during his operations.
it's genetic.
