• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Two years ago, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation resident Tiana Spotted Thunder had dreams of becoming a professional musician but didn't know how to get there.
• Then she took part in a program on the reservation called Independence Through Music that aims to give youth an outlet through singing and songwriting. Spotted Thunder now has released her own album of indigenous love songs and is touring South Dakota and other states like California, North Dakota and Utah.
• "I had all these ideas for myself and goals for myself but I didn't know exactly what to do because I didn't have those types of connections. With Independence Through Music it was a perfect tool for me, especially socially and to learn how to interact with people professionally," said Spotted Thunder, 19.
• Independence Through Music matches young musicians on the Pine Ridge reservation with well-established Native American musicians to learn the ropes of the music business -- from properly holding a microphone to planning a tour and creating a marketing plan. Before Independence Through Music started, no school on the reservation offered music. Now three do.
• The all-volunteer program is meant to ignite a fire in the reservation's youth to go out and achieve their dreams, said Davidica Little Spotted Horse, the program's creator. Participants range in age from 16 to 32. In Lakota culture, "youth" means anyone under 40.
• "What I find that is lacking here on the reservation is ambition and passion. There's so much hopelessness on the reservation they're not taught to be passionate about something because they don't think they can go anywhere," said Little Spotted Horse, a professional musician who went from writing her own music about seven years ago to touring the country, acting as her own manager and publicist

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