You may have been on another site that offered some free instruction on singing and talked about singing from the diaphragm. They say things like, "sing like you are shouting across the street at someone breaking into your car," or, "tighten your sphincter and pretend to poop." This is what's known as a diaphragmatic attack of the voice.
I'm sorry If I am again, kicking your teddy bear, but any course that promotes use of any of the techniques in the above paragraph are garbage and should be thrown out.
"Singing from the diaphragm," is possibly the absolute worst vocal technique ever taught.
It is the creation of a failed opera singer, who created his own school of singing and has ruined many singers voice ever since.Click here to learn where diaphragmatic breathing came from.
Long story short, he created a vocal school. For one reason or another his techniques were passed down to other vocal coaches who didn't know how to teach good singing either. It's most likely that the real teachers didn't want to give up their secrets. Also, often times singers don't know how to put down in words how they do what they actually do. Before this technique came about all singing was done with the attack of the mask, as it should be.
When you attack the voice with the diaphragm on the onset, that is putting the breath support behind the voice instead of at the same time, it results in a voice that is pushed out, like shouting or bellowing. It will quickly tire and even damage a singers voice. Singing from the diaphragm is loud but it lacks relaxed harmonic overtones. So, it sounds forced and wooden.
You may have watched a great sounding singer and seen the diaphragmatic action. This however is not consciously done on the onset of the voice. This waver, pulsing or flexing of the diaphragm is a reflex action caused by a voice placed strongly in the mask.
The diaphragmatic action is not the onset of the voice it is the support for it. The support happens by reaction because of the attack of the mask at the same time a note is sung. It doesn't squeeze and then push the voice up and out.
Have you even went to a sporting event and cheered on your team all night shouting their praises? Likely your throat was sore and you may have even lost your voice for some time. You weren't even shouting the whole time, just bursts for a a minute or two sporadically over a couple of hours, yet your voice was probably still gone. This is what singing from the diaphragm does to a singers voice. No amount of training balances, "singing from the diaphragm," and keeps a singer from going hoarse and ruining their voice. It's simply an unnatural vocal technique that sounds bad.
Attacking the voice from the mask causes breath support to happen by reflex and be perfectly balanced for the tone and loudness you are going for without overpowering the voice.
Attacking the voice from the mask causes singing to be as easy as humming with your mouth open, even for very loud powerful pitches. Even loud attacking from the mask doesn't sound wooden like shouting. It still retains it's harmonic overtone and pleasant round tone.
All of the worlds best sounding singers use the attack of the mask to one degree or another.
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