Live Music Now Scotland has announced Traditional Tales for Tiny People as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.

Events in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, aimed at early years children and their families, will feature tales and music from Orkney and the Western Isles.

Inspired by Scottish traditional music and folklore, Traditional Tales for Tiny People will support early years and their families in the post-pandemic world

Traditional Tales for Tiny People will feature live performances from some of Live Music Now Scotland’s emerging professional musicians.

Not only are these musicians some of the country’s most talented, but they are also specially trained and experienced in working with early years audiences and families.

Lasting 45 minutes, each session will feature two musicians who will perform a range of songs and tell stories that reflect nature, family, culture, tradition and much more besides.

Working with two locally engaged community venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Live Music Now Scotland hopes that the initiative will bring the known benefits of music and storytelling to early years and families who have, in large part due to the pandemic, had little or no opportunity to experience it before.

Storytelling plays an important role in allowing early years to understand and navigate the world around them, as well as how to interact with others, and these are skills that these sessions will look to nurture.  

In Edinburgh, sessions will take place on a Sunday afternoon at Holy Cross Church in Davidson’s Mains. Lasting 45 minutes, these participatory sessions will be led by three alternating LMNS musicians who were all born and raised on the windy planes of the Orkney islands and grew up listening to the region’s traditional tales and tunes - Aidan Moodie (guitar), Graham Rorie (fiddle) and Owen Sinclair (guitar) .

In Glasgow, Sunday morning sessions will take place at Partickhill Bowling and Community Club and will feature the vocals of Josie Duncan, Kaitlin Ross, and Catherine Tinney, all from the Western Isles. Told in a combination of Gaelic, English and Scots, their tales will tell of nature, people and places, families and relationships, and the stories that are embedded in society and retold many times as part of traditional social occasions, including waulking songs and Puirt à beul (a traditional form of song native to Scotland).

Carol Main MBE, Director at Live Music Now Scotland, said: “Storytelling not only enhances knowledge and memory recall while supporting early literacy development, but it also has the ability to build a greater sense of community, which is something we all need just now, not least young children who would have, pre-pandemic, had far more opportunity to regularly engage with their peers.

With Traditional Tales for Tiny People, we hope to not only facilitate this interaction and provide support for families as we emerge from the pandemic, but also to keep the wonderful tunes and tales of Scottish folklore alive.”

For more information, dates, and to book please contact:

Holy Cross Church - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Partick Hill Bowling Club - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Edinburgh, 2pm, Holy Cross Church 1st May 2022  Owen Sinclair & Josie Duncan
5th June 2022 Owen Sinclair & Josie Duncan
3rd July 2022 Graham Rorie & Aidan Moodie
7th August 2022 Owen Sinclair & Robbie Greig
4th September 2022 Graham Rorie & Aidan Moodie
2nd October 2022 Owen Sinclair & Robbie Greig

Glasgow, 11am, Partickhill Bowling Club 22nd May 2022 Kaitlin Ross & Catriona Hawksworth
12th June 2022 Kaitlin Ross & Catriona Hawksworth
11th September 2022 Kaitlin Ross & Catriona Hawksworth
16th October 2022 Josie Duncan & Catherine Tinney
20th November 2022 Catherine Tinney & Calum Morrison
18th December 2022 Catherine Tinney & Calum Morrison