What is a Musical Diversity Alphabet?

This is a novel approach to providing a simple, and quick way of showing children a variety of musical examples from around the world. But even more than that, it embeds an appreciation of equity, diversity and inclusion within it.

This is the perfect resource for any adults interacting with 3-7-year-olds, who are keen to promote positive diversity awareness to their children.

The two frameworks

Anybody working with 3 – 7s, who is serious about offering best practice in diversity, equity and inclusion, will be basing their approach on two important frameworks.

The first is the UN Convention on the rights of the child. Article 2 states that every child has rights;

“…without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child, or his or her parents or legal guardians, race, colour, sex, language, religion, political, or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth, or other status…“

And the second framework is the UK equality act 2010, which lists nine protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage or civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

As part of the OFSTED remit, primary schools will be assessed on how they promote equality and pupils’ understanding of these protected characteristics.

It is important that all children gain an understanding of the world they are growing up in, and that they learn how to live alongside, and show respect for, a diverse range of people. Obviously, when sharing these values with 3-7-year-olds, we have to be aware that we make our approach as accessible and age-appropriate as possible.

Our Musical Diversity Alphabet does just that.

Here are 20 ways in which our alphabet supports learning about music and diversity while also embedding at least one of the (age-appropriate) protected characteristics into each and every letter.

20 ways in which our musical diversity alphabet supports learning

1. Online downloadable resources that you can keep and add to your own resource-library
2. A new letter is released every fortnight, so that you can collect an entire year’s-worth of resources to use
3. It is completely free – all you need to do is sign up and get going!
4. The materials comprise slides and video clips to watch and listen along to
5. All the activities are timed to help your planning
6. There are teaching tips and guided listening ideas included
7. As a bonus, we send you a summary table after each group of 8-letters that details how the alphabet is accommodating the protected characteristics, diversity in music, and musical learning – evidence to support your planning
8. An excellent resource for assemblies or group sessions
9. Each letter relates to one of the protected characteristics
10. The musical examples serve as great conversation-starters about the protected characteristics
11. The alphabet offers a varied range of musical resources
12. It is accessible to all – you don’t need to understand music to enjoy it!
13. The materials cover songs, instruments, styles, genres etc from all over the world
14. It uses simple language and a simple approach when introducing these challenging concepts
15. It is fun for both adults and children
16. Crafted by teachers for all who interact with 3-7-year-olds
17. The alphabet is balanced in terms of representation
18. The resources are fully eclectic
19. They are engagingly age-appropriate
20. They offer a wealth of information to young and old alike!

We created this resource because we know it’s something we would have used and valued in our own teaching practices. However you use it – even if it is just for your own interest and education – we hope you get as much enjoyment out of using it as we have gained from designing it!