Welcome to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion webpage for the First Steps in Music curriculum, presented by GIA Publications in collaboration with the Feierabend Association for Music Education. It is our sincere belief that children and music educators deserve only the very best materials, and our purpose in creating this webpage is to provide educators with information and resources regarding the recent revision of First Steps in Music.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement

When new information about the racist histories and context of some of the folk songs in the First Steps curriculum was brought to our attention, the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME) formed a committee to develop a set of standards for determining whether repertoire may be used with young children without being harmful, derogatory, or disrespectful. The full text of the committee’s recommendations is available to download here.

Curriculum Revisions

Guided by the committee’s recommendations, GIA Publications has revised the First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege curriculums. The following documents provide specific details about each revision.

Feierabend Repertoire Database by Chris Anne Powers

The Feierabend Repertoire Database, by Chris Anne Powers, is a curated collection of the newly revised First Steps in Music repertoire. Each song or rhyme has been thoroughly analyzed and classified using the following categories:

Title
Printed Source
Aural Source
Genres
Country/Language/Origin
Subject
Conversational Solfege Rhythm Unit (updated to reflect new Book 3 edition)
Time Signature
Conversational Solfege Tonal Unit (updated to reflect new Book 3 edition)
Scale
Tonal Center
Tone Set
Recommended Key
Additional Content Notes

Resources currently included in the Feierabend Repertoire Database are:

First Steps in Music for Preschool and Beyond
First Steps in Global Music
The Book of Pitch Exploration
The Book of Echo Songs
The Book of Call & Response
The Book of Children’s SongTales
The Book of Movement Exploration
The Book of Fingerplays & Action Songs
The Book of Beginning Circle Games
The Book of Songs & Rhymes with Beat Motions
CD: Had A Little Rooster
CD: Old Joe Clark
CD: There’s A Hole In The Bucket
CDs: Music For Creative Movement

Click here to download the database as an Excel file (this file is searchable). This file will be periodically updated as new information becomes available, so users may wish to occasionally return for updated versions of this file. Most recent version: October 27, 2020. It should be noted that at this time the Feierabend Repertoire Database is primarily an analysis of the musical content of the pieces contained therein. And while an historical analysis of each song or rhyme has not been conducted, information shared by the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Feierabend Association for Music Education has been included.

Links to Additional Resources

Below we have suggested online resources teachers may find useful for researching American folk materials such as those in the First Steps curriculum. It is also worth noting that several comprehensive and thoughtfully prepared documents with information about the repertoire in the Feierabend curriculum have been compiled and posted on the Feierabend Fundamentals Facebook page.

The American Folk Song Collection: http://kodaly.hnu.edu/collection.cfm

Feedback

Scholars and educators are encouraged to provide relevant feedback about any song or rhyme in the curriculum. Using the form below, please fill out your name, email address, the title of the song or rhyme, and any comment, question, or information you wish to provide.