The Rules of Singing

If you listen to any of the great voices of the first part of the 20th century they will almost without exception hit the note dead arm. One note per syllable no ornamentation, no frills there were a few outliers. Billy Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald would both use a little melisma,. Holiday more than Ella, to ornament their sound. But generally that was what good singing was. And this was largely the case in the blues as well as in the more upmarket styles. The rules weren't stuck to quite as firmly there but still you'd mostly sing the song as it was written. There was one area where that was not the case - black gospel.