IN 1902 SCRIPTURE ( 93 ) WROTE that "Songs are never
sung--or intended to be sung--exactly as written. Even the
most mechanical popular tune is rendered differently by each
individual, the difference lying mainly in the duration of the
elements, in the stress assigned to them, and above all in the
attack by the voice and the utterance of each sound. In artistic
performance all these sources of variation are employed, mainly
unconsciously, to express the thought or emotion of the singer.
Concerning just how they are varied and how they are em-
ployed there are at present no experimental data." (93, p. 485)

Today the situation is quite different. We have a large
accumulation of data on many of the conscious or unconscious
variations mentioned by Scripture, and on many other phases
of artistic vocal rendition. These data were gathered objec-
tively, mainly in the psychology laboratory of the University
of Iowa, by means of recording instruments possessing high
degree of precision and accuracy. Specimens of singing under
normal conditions have been analyzed into their structural and
functional elements, and classified, described, and explained in
a thoroughly scientific manner. This procedure is made pos-
sible by the fact that whatever is conveyed vocally or instru-
mentally by the performer to the listener as music reaches the
listener through the medium of sound waves. These sound
waves can be recorded with a very high degree of precision
and analyzed and studied from every angle.

The first such objective study of what actually goes on
when a song is rendered by a great artist was made by Schoen.
His study concerned itself with pitch intonation, and with the
nature and significance of the much disputed vocal phenomenon
known as the vibrato.

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