PLACE YOUR SOUND    "Place your sound in the mask", he said as he placed his fingers in the shape of a claw over my nose and on either side of it. He was one of the more established older voice teachers in Las Vegas and this is what he said to me right after I stepped off stage, heading for the dressing room. I had no idea what he was talking about. Most people have the same reaction when told to sing from their diaphragm, which is another well known myth. Where were these people spending their time during science class? Sound travels at 750 miles per hour. That is the same as 1100 feet per second. That is over the length of 3 football fields in a mere second. How do you place your sound in the mask or "up and over"? What do you use to get the sound there? Do we have singing valves or doors to direct the sound into these places? I haven't seen them on any anatomy charts. What should you do when told to sing from your diaphragm or to place the sound here or there? Well, it's best to not get into a fight. If you have some medical references on hand and have the places marked, you might get someone to take a look at them. The problem is that these things are still taught in schools at every level. For the longest time it was believed that mixing science with art would destroy the art. Does it make sense to remain ignorant if learning would bring about understanding and actually make one a better artist? Science has been applied to musical instruments with profoundly excellent results. Trumpets, trombones, saxes, even guitars and drums are better sounding than most of the same instruments from the 1940s. Medical science has also come a long way and so has acoustics and physics. Sound cannot be placed and you cannot even feel your diaphragm. Ask your doctor or get a copy of Gray's Anatomy (the book, not the TV show...but it is interesting, too). Abdominal muscles PUSH out the air and the diaphragm helps PULL in the air, according to Gray's Anatomy. However, most of the time, you won't want to push out too much air too much of the time, unless you like being hoarse or getting vocal nodules . EMAIL CHUCK STEWART