Bob Pegg words ~ music ~ place contact: catsback@gmail.com I’ve been visiting schools, for both one day visits and longer-term projects, since the mid-1970s. At first this was as a  singer and musician, but, since moving to the Highlands in 1989, much of my work with children has also involved  stories and storytelling. A great schools’ favourite, which can be adapted to all ages, including nursery, is my Roots and  Flutes show (see the Shows page), which presents the sounds and stories of musical instruments from all over the  world, and from the earliest times, from prehistory through to the Vikings and beyond.  Since setting up the Merry Dancers Storytelling project in 2002 I’ve become increasingly interested in working with other  artists in schools, on projects that use traditional stories as a starting point to make songs, books, felting, wood  sculpture, sound recording and animation. Some examples of the results are on the Gallery page.  My schools work chimes in very much with both the English National Curriculum and the Scottish Curriculum for  Excellence (for which I’ve trained teachers) - and, as an accredited storyteller, I’m eligible for subsidy from the Scottish  Book Trust.  I’m not sure whose classroom this is, but I  would undoubtedly be singing Hairy Monsters  Came from Mars, to the tune of Twinkle,  Twinkle. It’s a really useful song. Not only is it  funny, and a good way to get a class - or a hall  full - singing. It’s also a great way to start an  impromptu songwriting session, as it came out  of a workshop with Primary age children back  in the 1980s. The idea is that you take a tune  that you already know and give it a new set of  words. Another favourite is to improvise verses  about (horrendous) school dinners to the tune  of She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain.  This splendid dragon was  made by a class of younger  children from Portree Primary  school on Skye. We started off  by looking at a special  dragon’s egg that I bought  many years ago in a shop in  the Yorkshire Dales, and  wondering what would happen  should it ever hatch. A couple  of days later I returned to find  that a veritable saga had been  created in words and pictures,  with this image its centrepiece. Children (and adults) love the sound of the  jaw harp. It has a European history going  back at least to the Vikings (the perfect  instrument to take on a long sea voyage). In  principle, though, it must be one of the  world’s oldest soundmakers and is found in  different versions - some of them made of  wood rather than metal - from Indonesia to  Scotland. Hold it between your lips, twang  the tongue and it will play music, and even  recite the alphabet. The Tale of the Gizzen Briggs is a five minute animation made by  1st year art students at Tain  Royal Academy. as part of the  Merry Dancers Storytelling  project. The children worked with  animator Dave Smith, while I  produced the sound. It won an  enGage Scotland Art in Education award in 2004. You can find it on  YouTube by clicking here.