Singing Guide: Stephen Ward
Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources
Stephen Ward was an English osteopath and musical theatre composer. He composed many musicals, including the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, before his early death at the age of 50. As a young artist, he was an early advocate of combining Eastern philosophy with Western therapeutic techniques in his creative process.
If you are a fan of Stephen Ward's musical style, you can attempt to learn how to sing like him with some guidance from Singing Carrots. Stephen Ward's most famous musicals are renowned for their rock music elements. Among his most famous numbers are "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar and "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from Evita.
To sing like Stephen Ward, you first need to identify and perfect your voice's timbre and pitch. Use Singing Carrots' vocal range test to determine your range and to identify your voice's strengths and weaknesses. You can then use the pitch accuracy test to develop your pitch accuracy.
What makes Stephen Ward's voice unique is his mixing of head and chest voice, which gives his voice a specific color. To achieve that, practice Chest voice and Voice Registers exercises. Once you master these, you can master the art of mixing the registers. His rock-music-inspired style also depends on the correct use of breath control and voice distortion.
To be successful at emulating Stephen Ward's style convincingly, you will need to have excellent posture to allow for strong breathing support and have relaxed muscles in the throat and mouth. To achieve this, follow Singing Carrots' advice on posture control and breathing techniques.
To progress further, Singing Carrots also provides a singing course that teaches singing theory and practical tips, which can help you develop your skills with the help of personalized exercises that cater to your specific needs. Additionally, Singing Carrots offers songbook functionalities that can help you pick songs that match your voice, preference, and range.
To sum up, singing like Stephen Ward requires a unique voice range, a high level of precision, excellent posture, and breathing control. The rock-music-inspired style also requires the use of the correct voice registers and, depending on the song, voice distortion techniques. With Singing Carrots' resources, you can train and learn most of the techniques required to sing like the acclaimed artist.