Problem: Article: Failing to properly warm up your voice can leave you unable to sing your full vocal range. Even worse, singing without warming up, especially singing a complex or challenging part, can do damage to your vocal folds and lead to vocal burnout. Limber up your body by performing a few basic stretches. Be sure you stretch your arms, chest, and back, as these body parts all connect to and affect your vocal tract and torso. A relaxed upper body will produce a better quality of sound while singing, and reduce the chance of vocal damage. Massage your jaw to release tension contained in the muscles there and improve your vocal production. Using the heels of your hands or your fingertips, rub your face from below your cheekbone along your jawline toward your chin. A poorly hydrated voice can leave you sounding garbled or your tone impure. You should drink plenty of water before singing, keeping away from drinking anything too hot or too cold. Room temperature beverages are the kindest to your voice. Serious vocalists should aim to drink anywhere from 6-8 glasses of water daily, though this number could change significantly based upon individual body type. You can put a little lemon juice into your water to add a dash of flavor and make your water more enjoyable. Another way to keep your vocal cords hydrated is to use a personal humidifier. Aim for a 2-octave scale in sixteenth notes, as this will allow your vocal folds to stretch more in preparation to sing. Start your scale from a pitch in your lower register, and smoothly ascend until you reach 2 octaves above your starting tone. Then smoothly descend to your starting pitch. Make sure to use your head-voice and sing from the diaphragm. The key here is to give your voice a good stretch. You can perform this exercise with many different sounds and tones. Try singing on the using the sounds, "me," "ee," and "oo." This is a good way to warm up the vocal cords with minimal strain on your voice. Keep your lips closed and push small amounts of air through them quickly to make a "brr" sound. The action is similar to blowing raspberries, and can be done at different pitches. Vary the length and intensity of the lip trills to get a good warmup. Check out this video of Celine Dion doing a lip trill: https://youtu.be/1NFz2Ff6ZlM Too much air on high notes will make your vocal cords dab against each other, which can wear them out over time. Practice controlling your air flow with a hissing "S" sound for 1520 seconds at a time. Look for tension in your voice when you sing high notes, as this is a sign of incorrect air flow. Another exercise to improve your air flow is to quickly blow air through a small coffee straw. Be sure to maintain good posture! Aching abs is a sign you're doing this exercise correctly. Also called diction, enunciation is how clearly you pronounce the words that you speak. Poor diction can lead to you getting tongue-tied while singing, or can result in the words you sing being unclear. There are many different exercises you might employ for the sake of diction, some you might try saying: Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry. She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore. The shells she sells are sea-shells, I'm sure. For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore, then I'm sure she sells sea-shore shells. Betty Botter bought a bit of butter. "But," said she, "This butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter, that will make my batter better." Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter, better than the bitter butter, then she put it in her batter, now her bitter batter's better! Relatively low soprano and mezzo-soprano parts can make it more difficult to sing dynamics clearly, so practice moving between forte, piano, and so on. Higher soprano parts require a great deal of air, so practice breathing exercises.
Summary: Understand the benefits of warming up. Stretch to relax your body. Hydrate your vocal folds. Run scales. Do lip trills. Improve air flow with an "S" sound. Drill for enunciation. Adjust your warmup to the parts you're practicing.

Problem: Article: If you have a little bit of extra time, you can turn the card into a mini graphic novel. Divide the card into a grid and tell a little story. Draw pictures of you and your recipient using a fun memory from your past. You can put the story on the outside of the card or on the inside. If you are putting it on the inside, it can take place of the message! Tailor the card's decorative details to the recipient. For example, if it's your mom's birthday and she loves gardening, add a stamped flower image or draw the outline of a flower with glue and cover it in glitter. Visit your craft store's scrapbooking section. There, you'll find all sorts of embellishments, including cabochons, stickers, buttons, and washi tape. If you don't know what the recipient likes, consider tailoring the card to the theme of the party instead. For example, if the party's theme is "ocean," add some fish stickers!
Summary: Make a story. Add embellishments like stickers, stamps, glitter, or fabric.

Problem: Article: In guided meditation, you listen to an audio track of a person reading meditation instructions to you, and simply follow along with your thoughts. This is an excellent introduction to meditation for those who have never done it before and don't know where to start. There are many free guided meditations for sleep available on the internet as downloadable audio files, podcasts, and YouTube videos. You can also purchase sleep meditation CDs at any major bookstore, or online. Look for a guided meditation CD or file that has good reviews, or comes from a reputable source, such as MIT Medical, which provides a number of audio file downloads designed to help you fall asleep. If you download a free file, it is a good idea to listen to it once before bedtime to make sure the file is intact and doesn't include any hidden surprises, like advertisements at the end. Get ready to sleep, and set up the device you will be using to play the guided meditation next to your bed. Adjust the volume settings beforehand. Be sure to set the device's sleep mode or power saver settings so that the device will turn itself off after the recording has finished. It is not advisable to use headphones for a guided sleep meditation, since ideally you will fall asleep before the recording is over, and you don't want to get tangled up in the cords in the night. Put on your pajamas, darken the room, and get comfy in bed before you hit play. Then relax and listen, and prepare for a night of restful sleep! If you don't fall asleep after the first play-through, take a few deep breaths and begin again.
Summary: Understand guided meditation. Find a guided meditation track for sleeping. Prepare your audio setup. Get ready and start the recording.

Problem: Article: When you dribble, don't hit the ball 5 meters away from you because you will get tackled and teammates might even think it's a pass. Keep the ball close to you, like if it was glued to your feet! Dribbling around the house will help the moves become second nature.
Summary:
Develop good close control.