You never really know how fans or music critics will react to certain songs until you put them to the test. 

My brother, who is my webmaster and unofficial music promoter, was recently invited to submit one of the songs from my second full-length album, Aurora 12, to a group of discerning, upstart music reviewers – a class of Grade 1 and 2 students, ranging in age from six to seven years old. 

This was the first private airing of Standing People, a song I wrote to celebrate our connection with nature and, more specifically, our relationship with standing people – words sometimes used by Indigenous peoples to refer to trees. 

As part of their music study program, the students were asked to listen to the song with their eyes closed. After playing the song, their teacher asked them to create drawings and pick words that best reflected what the song meant to them. 

Some envisioned a person sitting by a campfire surrounded by trees, others saw wildlife moving swiftly through the dark forest. I think they were all beautiful and accurate depictions of my song and I’m happy to share with you their artwork. And, as a bonus, it looks like Standing People was given two thumbs up!

You can view the Standing People music video by visiting my one-stop website music shop, Sandra's Store.