How One Classroom Video Became the Next Chapter of S-Cubed Sight Singing

The image at the top of this post is me on the first day I began sharing S-Cubed from my classroom.

Lesson 1. Day 1. The game was Forbidden Pattern.

I remember how vulnerable I felt when I turned on that camera.

I was a working middle school chorus teacher sharing my real classroom, my real teaching, and my real students. Nothing was staged. I did it for a year and a half.  There was no production crew, no perfect lighting, and no guarantee that anyone would find what I was creating useful.

I set up my iPhone 4 in the corner of the room, pressed record, and taught, giving teaching tips for every lesson.  

And I was scared.

I worried that other music teachers might watch and judge my choices. I wondered whether they would criticize my classroom, my teaching style, or the sight-singing program I was beginning to share. I wondered whether anyone would watch at all.  But I did it day after day.  It was and is a labor of love and passion.  

Honestly, whenever I share something new, part of me still feels that way.

But I shared that first video anyway.  Every day for a year and a half, I came home at the end of the workday, uploaded the new videos to my YouTube Channel, implanted the links into my PowerPoint, and uploaded the lessons to TPT.  

The video from the first day has now been viewed approximately 15,000 times.

Why I Started Recording My Sight-Singing Lessons

When I began creating the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners in 2013, I knew that written directions would not be enough.

Sight singing can be intimidating—not only for beginning singers, but also for the teachers responsible for teaching it. Many excellent music educators were never shown how to introduce sight singing to middle school students in a way that feels sequential, engaging, and achievable.

A written lesson might tell a teacher what to do. I wanted teachers to see how it looked and sounded in a real classroom.  We had the technology to do it.  Nobody else was doing or had done anything like it.  Every other method was essentially a similar sequence that didn't work for my beginners.  Most other methods were written from the perspective of a music educator with a long history of private music lessons and, of course, a college education.  

In the videos, teachers could see the pacing, procedures, mistakes, laughter, corrections, and breakthroughs. They could watch my students encounter the material for the first time rather than watching a polished demonstration after everything had already been learned.

My goal was simple:

I wanted to stand beside the teacher.

I wanted a band director unexpectedly assigned to teach chorus to feel supported. I wanted a young choir teacher opening Lesson 1 for the first time to know what to do next. I wanted an experienced teacher who had never found a successful way to teach beginning sight singing to have a clear, practical path forward.

The videos were never about showcasing perfect teaching. They were about making the process visible.

What Started in One Classroom Kept Growing

I could not have imagined where that first vulnerable video would lead.

Since 2013, S-Cubed has been used by more than 2,000 teachers, more than 250 school districts, and more than 100,000 students. Teachers have written more than 900 reviews on Teachers Pay Teachers, describing what happened when their students began experiencing success with sight singing.

Those numbers matter to me—but the individual teachers behind them matter even more.

Over the years, teachers have contacted me with questions about pacing, procedures, and student difficulties. Some were just beginning. Some had started S-Cubed but lost momentum. Others had used it successfully for years and needed a reminder, a reset, or a shot in the arm.

Again and again, I saw the same truth:

Having a strong curriculum matters, but teachers also need support while they are using it.

They need help interpreting what is happening in front of them.

Is the class actually struggling, or is this a normal part of the learning process? Should the teacher repeat the lesson or move forward? Was an important procedure unintentionally skipped? What should happen tomorrow when today did not go as planned?

Those are difficult questions for a PowerPoint to answer in the moment.

Why I Am Building the S-Cubed AI Coach

Thirteen years after putting that iPhone in the corner of my classroom, I am taking another risk.

I am building the S-Cubed AI Coach, scheduled to launch in early October.  

I am currently spending two to three hours every day teaching it the details of the first 10 S-Cubed lessons. Those lessons are the initial focus because they establish the habits, language, and procedures that support everything that follows in Level One.

I am giving the Coach specifics about:

    ●    Lesson pacing and priorities

    ●    Procedures that may appear small but become essential later

    ●    Common beginning-student responses

    ●    Frequent teacher questions and mistakes

    ●    When to repeat and when to advance

    ●    How to rebuild consistency after a difficult day

    ●    Which S-Cubed instructions and videos can provide additional help

    ●    How to encourage a teacher who feels uncertain or discouraged

I am also teaching it to help bring new energy to teachers who've taught the program for a while and want some new ideas to keep the daily routines fresh.  

The more I build, the more I realize how much knowledge lives between the written instructions—the small decisions an experienced teacher makes after observing students in real time.

That is the knowledge I am working to make more accessible.

The Teacher Must Remain at the Center

When I first announced this project, some teachers were excited. Others were understandably cautious.

I have listened to those concerns.

Educators are asking important questions about accuracy, intellectual property, privacy, environmental impact, and the growing pressure to use technology in places where human expertise and relationships belong.

The S-Cubed AI Coach is not being created to replace a teacher.

It cannot know your students personally. It cannot listen to your choir, build your classroom culture, or make professional decisions for you. It cannot replace the creativity, empathy, and judgment that a teacher brings into the room each day.

The teacher remains at the center. That is not negotiable.

This Coach is being developed from the curriculum, videos, procedures, and teaching philosophy I have created and refined since 2013. Its role is to help teachers navigate and implement S-Cubed with greater clarity, confidence, and consistency.

It also does not replace the S-Cubed curriculum. Teachers will still need the instructional materials purchased separately through Teachers Pay Teachers or J.W. Pepper. The Coach is designed to help teachers use those materials more successfully.  S-Cubed stands for Successful Sight Singing.  That success applies to the students but also to the teacher.  Success builds confidence, and that is what we are working to do.  Success feels good to the teacher and to the student.  That's what I was doing in 2013, and that is what I am doing with this new tool.

Who Is the S-Cubed AI Coach For?

I am building it for the teacher opening Lesson 1 for the first time.

I am building it for the teacher who began S-Cubed, became overwhelmed, and put it aside.

I am building it for the longtime user who knows the program works but needs fresh energy or renewed consistency.

I am building it for the band teacher who has suddenly been assigned a chorus class and does not feel prepared to teach singing.

I am building it for every teacher somewhere in between.

Ultimately, this work is about more than helping teachers complete lessons. It is about helping students experience the confidence that comes from doing something they once believed they could not do.

Successful sight singing means success for the teacher and the students.

Different Tools. The Same Mission.

When I look at that image from my first classroom video, I see more than a younger version of myself.

I see someone frightened of being judged but believed that sharing might help another teacher.

I did not know that the video would be viewed approximately 15,000 times. I did not know that S-Cubed would eventually reach more than 100,000 students. I did not know that 13 years later I would be developing an entirely new way to support the teachers using it.

I only knew that teachers should not have to figure this out alone.

That is still what I believe.

Different tools. Same mission.

The S-Cubed AI Coach is scheduled to launch in October.  Make sure you are on my email list.  Write "subscribe" in the subject line, and I will add you.  

Want to Create Your Own AI-Powered App?

If you’re a creator, educator, coach, consultant, or expert with knowledge you’d like to turn into an interactive experience, Studio.com gives you the tools to build your own AI-powered app.

I used Studio to create the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program Coach, taking the experience and teaching philosophy I’ve developed over many years and turning it into something that can support teachers whenever they need it.

If you’re curious about creating something of your own, you can explore Studio.com through my creator link:

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

If you have expertise people regularly come to you for, it may be worth asking: Could I turn what I know into an app?