Hi again.

I'm sorry if I was a little vague. Yes, I know about the bulletin boards and the newsgroups, and I do use them as well.
As you point out, Mary, it is a rather all-encompassing subject. And as a behaviorial psychologist I have touched on most of the subjects you have brought up. The main focus of my research lies in it's relationship to folk music, and the effects (or otherwise) thereof.

I have for example noted certain 'involuntary' body movements associated with the practise, and appreciation of folk music. Random, incoherent mouth noises that do not serve any obvious purpose, yet seem to transmit some sort of egregious, sublime communication to the receivers.
The idea that such a kind of communication could be linked to Tourette's, and indeed the other way around is not a subject that has yet been looked into with much depth, and I find that researching any 'material' for my thesis consists of long peroids away from home, sitting in places strange to me, and observing people engaging in behavior that does not seem to be consistent with that which they portray in other controlled situations.

The idea of a temporary state is something Gilles de la Tourette did not expand on. The school of thought which contends that certain kinds of music bring on differing states and degrees of Tourette's is housed well off the development zone, to use an city planner's idiom.

The reason that I posted to The Mudcat Cafe was because a colleague referred me here, and I count nothing out when it comes to researching this. "If you are not in you cannot win" I thank you all so far, and hope that this might narrow the subject down a little.
You have been very helpful
Thank you again.

Frank Fellowes