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music, but other times in multiple layers in multiple scales simultaneously, to
represent how all the various creation stories differ and yet draw from the same
origin point.

All melodies tend to begin on offbeats as typical intertribal powwow music
does. While the beats are steady, it is the singing melody that takes on the
numerous forms of embellishment. Drums and rattles in many cultures call
people to social gatherings, rituals, or festivities. Melody and beat tie together
to bind the creation stories with their peoples.

Tonya Wind Singer is a composer, conductor, singer, pianist, and multi-
instrumentalist from Arizona. Her work is rooted in her cultural background,
American Indian (O’odham) and Mexican, and as a singer of both Mariachi and
Powwow music, she brings those musical cultural influences into her works. Her
music is primarily for wind band, orchestra, and chorus, but she has also written
folk rock and Latin American music and is an indie songwriter.

Wind Singer began taking piano lessons at the age of ten and then clarinet and
saxophone at twelve. She began composing in high school and studied composition
at California State University, Los Angeles. During this time, she continued
playing in orchestras and wind bands and studied conducting. She continued her
composition studies at The Boston Conservatory and received her Master of Music
Degree in composition.

Since 2013, she has been a powwow singer with various drums in the powwow
circuit. She worked as an apprentice composer under Brent Michael Davids for
the documentary “Lake of Betrayal” on PBS. She composed and arranged several
works for Kirchenchor der Wallfahrtskirche St. Jakobus choir and orchestra in
Biberbach, Germany. She also worked as an editor, engraver, and collaborator in
projects recorded by the London Chamber Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic
Orchestra.

Mayflower Alex Berko
(b. 1995)

Mayflower musically traces the journey of the Mayflower from England to America
and the establishment of our governmental system as it commemorates the journey

PAGE 12 Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra