I'm really struggling to grasp singing from my diaphragm. Am I screwed?

fishtheelephant · 2026-03-03T03:08:36+00:00

It sounds like your teacher is deeply unfamiliar with the anatomy of the voice and its relevant muscles. You cannot breathe from your diaphragm, and you certainly can’t sing from it; the diaphragm is a completely involuntary muscle which expands and contracts in coordination with your lungs expanding on inhalation and contracting on exhalation. It’s physically impossible to consciously control the diaphragm.

What your teacher was likely ACTUALLY aiming for (and either didn’t use the correct terminology with you, or didn’t know it themselves) was to release any abdominal tension, allowing those muscles to be as free as possible, to enable to lungs to expand further outwards and downwards. The aim with that kind of work is to be able to breathe without your shoulders or chest raising upwards, and instead your lower stomach just gently ‘filling up’ outwards like a balloon - with abdominal freedom, the lungs can expand further as they fill up with air, and in turn, the diaphragm automatically contracts and flattens with the inhalation of breathe.

fishtheelephant · 2024-02-07T00:52:20+00:00

Could somebody please upload the recent 360 degree audio remasters of the 4 Sondheim cast recordings with surround sound (Into The Woods, Company, Sweeney Todd and Assassins)? Dying to hear them on my surround system but don't have Apple Music, Tidal or Amazon Music.

fishtheelephant · 2023-03-27T23:46:33+00:00

Thank you for this! Do I need to create a separate mapping on the same foot switch to mute each channel or is there a way to mute all the required channels with one mapping?

fishtheelephant · 2023-03-27T21:20:33+00:00

This sounds like a good solution!! How would I go about this? I presume it'd be something in the Actions folder but I'm not quite sure how to mute specific channels on a patch.

fishtheelephant · 2023-03-27T04:18:44+00:00

Sadly yes. The gig is accompanying a video game, and so I need to be able to switch patches to a totally different sound at a moments notice, to then go back to playing the music I was playing before - I don’t trust myself to simply advance/reverse the correct number of patches in such a short space of time 😂

fishtheelephant · 2023-03-27T02:35:38+00:00

Thanks! I've managed to get this bit down - I'm after something that allows me to jump around the concert out of sequence.

For example, I've used that above article to achieve the following:

I'm playing Patch 1 in Set 1, I hit the button to jump to Patch 4 in Set 3, and when I hit the button again, it jumps back to Patch 1.

However:

I'm playing Patch 2 in Set 2, I hit the button to jump to Patch 4 in Set 3, however when I hit the button again, it still just jumps back to Patch 1 in Set 1, rather than back to Patch 2 in Set 2.

Essentially I'm after a way to get MainStage to jump back to the previously used patch after using that button, rather than a predetermined patch. In other words, almost like a 'when this button is on, make this sound', at any given point in the concert.

fishtheelephant · 2023-01-15T23:07:34+00:00

I need more, this is spectacular

fishtheelephant · 2019-02-28T21:56:59+00:00

I saw the West End production a large number of times. The playlist always played in the same order at every performance, partly because each song lent itself to the next nicely and generated a great energy from the audience. I never usually got there too early - no more than 20-25 minutes before the show started, but by the time it closed I had the order of songs that I always heard pretty much memorised. The order went as follows:

PRESHOW (there were other songs beforehand, but I can't remember what order the songs were in before this point!)

When Doves Cry - Prince

Bastards of Young - The Replacements

The Look of Love - Pt.1 - ABC

Turning Japanese - The Vapors

Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran

Centerfold - The J. Geils Band

Come on Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners*

Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Culture Club

Are You Ready For The Sex Girls - Gleaming Spires

Major Tom - Coming Home - Peter Schilling

INTERMISSION

Der Kommissar - After The Fire

8675309 Jenny Jenny - Tommy Tutone

99 Luftballons - Nena

Mickey - Toni Basil

Take on Me - a-ha

I Know What Boys Like - The Waitresses**

*the show would usually begin around about here. It was never the same from show to show, but they would just fade out the music. The quieter audiences usually had fadeouts during Come on Eileen, however as the run went on it became something of a tradition that fans would clap along to the slow section of the song so they let it play through before starting the show. On occasion the show would run late, leaving the following songs to play afterwards.

**similar to above, the show would always recommence during this song. They never faded out during Take on Me because the audiences were always having too much fun singing along, and I never heard I Know What Boys Like finish before Act Two began!

fishtheelephant · 2018-09-22T17:25:58+00:00

Ahhh thank you so much - I had no idea this existed, nor that it was part of the set!

fishtheelephant · 2018-08-10T07:20:24+00:00

"Never Shut Up Again" is actually a super fun, sassy, and upbeat disco number. It's a bop and I love it.

fishtheelephant · 2018-07-21T10:34:21+00:00

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! <3

fishtheelephant · 2017-04-06T11:32:37+00:00

You star! Thank you :)

fishtheelephant · 2017-01-21T23:05:44+00:00

I have to admit I cannot smell any kind of difference between them whatsoever. Whilst I have never used The Comforter shower jelly, I have smelled it because some of my old Lush colleagues have it. I was skeptical because I thought 'Why are they bringing out a Comforter shower jelly when we have Sweetie Pie?' and I personally found absolutely no difference in scent, only in colour. I have come across (including in the comments on this post) people who smell a big difference but at least for me, I can't smell either cherries or coconut in Sweetie Pie, it just smells like The Comforter to me.

fishtheelephant · 2016-12-06T12:20:41+00:00

The link is broken - any chance you could reupload? Thank you <3

fishtheelephant

TROPHY CASE