BIO

Kath Weider is a singer, vocal coach, writer, filmmaker and devotee of the art of improvisation and the healing power of music. A long-time meditator and inquiry student of the Diamond Approach Mystery School, she is most delighted in the shared threads between music, movement, improvisation and spiritual practice - to pray through singing, to deepen one’s attention to the inner body through sound, to feel alive through the joy of spontaneous music making. Kath trained in conservatory-style vocal technique, before branching off to study experimental music and improvisation with David Darling, Warren Senders, Rhiannon, Barry Green and Meredith Monk. She is a certified facilitator in the Music for People approach to improvisation and co-hosts a monthly MFP workshop and two annual retreats. Kath is  the lead singer for the Spirit Singing Band, and facilitates song circles, song ceremonies, vocal coaching,  workshops and retreats.  

MY STORY

I began singing at a young age. I sang so much I drove my family crazy and my mother eventually got me into voice training. My early music career followed a traditional conservatory-style path, training and performing professionally in classical voice & musical theater. I attended Interlochen Art Academy for voice and then studied privately in Montreal, Quebec, as I worked on a liberal arts education at McGill University.

As an emerging singer and very experimental young adult, I eventually found myself moving away from the classical and conservatory-style music world. I moved on to folk and jazz gigs. The following years was where I started trying out different creative hats - developing my skills as a writer, a documentary filmmaker and an arts producer for PBS. (Watch a documentary I produced in 2007 about Janie Paul and the Prison Creative Arts Project.)

During this time, I discovered meditation and inquiry, deepening my inner world and the more explicit fusion of music practice and meditation. I say “more explicit” because, even as a girl, singing had been a conduit to the sacred and spiritual aspects of reality..

My musical and spiritual life eventually found a home together in music improvisation and then later, in the practice of song prayer/spirit singing.

VOCAL IMPROV

All my music is influenced by the practice of improvisation and circle singing. Circle singing is a genre developed and shared most widely by Bobby McFerrin and Rhiannon. There is nothing more beautiful, and frankly, more fun, than creating sounds, songs & spontaneous music with other singers and musicians. I have been developing the art of improvisation with David Darling and Music for People, and vocal improv with Rhiannon and fellow improvisors since 2005.

SONG PRAYERS / CHANTING

For the last few years, I have focused on the practice of song prayers- simple phrases offered up again and again. The practice is to stay present with the intention of the chant, to let it seed, to let the mind rest as you sing, so simply. You could call it chant, but the element of improvisation and layers, make room for harmony and counter melodies to arise, if called for.

Part of my work is to facilitate this kind of chanting in churches, spiritual gatherings and rituals, community music making & the magic of shared sound/play.

Music is offered, not as entertainment, but to provide an entry point into meditation and prayer through sound.

TEACHERS / INFLUENCES

Meditation & Inquiry practice: 

I began my meditation practice in Vipassana with S.N. Goenka.

Since 2005, I have been a student in the Ridhwan School of A.H. Almaas (The Diamond Approach).  

I’m a dedicated practitioner of Authentic Movement, working with Stefanie Cohen in Ann Arbor, MI since 2019.

And so many more studies with teachers, modalities and pathways in: IFS, Co-Regulation, Enneagram, Dzogen, Advaita & other non-dual paths.

Music / Voice Teachers & Influences (outside of traditional conservatory:

David Darling & Music for People (Certified Facilitator since 2007)

Barry Green, Inner Game of Music

Rhiannon, Vocal Improvisation/Circle Singing

Meredith Monk, Voice and Meditation

Warren Senders, Hindustani Singing

Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method Level 1 Certification

Chant/Spirit Singing influences: Ana Hernandez, Krishna Das, Ma Muse and many more