What Exactly is Singing “In Tune”?

I’ve sung most of my life, yet only recently have I started to ask the question “How do unaccompanied vocalists stay in tune?” The process sounds simple enough at first: vocalists stay in tune because they have good relative or absolute pitch memory — they remember what the 5th of the scale sounds like, and can sing it whenever they like. This explanation works at some level, but a few nagging questions remain.

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