Announcement! Mr. D will teach S-Cubed Sight Singing Program on Outschool!

Hello everyone!

2023 will mark a decade since I took a leap of faith and began sharing my work online with teachers around the globe.   Many of you have been with me from the very beginning.  

And now, I am embarking on another new teaching adventure that I am super excited about, but more about that later in this message.

First of all, thank you so much for following my work, trusting and believing in and using the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners.  If it had not been for teachers just like you who took the leap and used S-Cubed with their students and talked about it online and in person, no one would know about it.  

No company helped get the word out.  

It was all you and me.

You’ve shared videos of the work you’re doing with your students using S-Cubed online.  You’ve tagged teachers when I host a giveaway so they can enter and perhaps win or get the program at a discount.  You’ve talked about S-Cubed in your professional development sessions.  You’ve written comments about S-Cubed for people looking for sight singing programs in various social media threads where choir directors gather.  You’ve left nearly 900 reviews on TpT that reflect your experiences with the program.  You’ve sent me personal email messages about how the program has helped you, and I’ve saved and shared almost all of them on my blog under “Testimonials about S-Cubed”.

Thank you.

What’s this exciting next endeavor?!

As many of you know, I retired from public school teaching after 30 years in the classroom, and I am presenting classes to teachers, adjudicating events, and directing Allstate and Honors Chorus events….but I have found another endeavor that I am so excited to share with new learners all over the globe…

…and I hope you can help me get the word out about it the same way you helped get the word out about S-Cubed to start with!

I have decided to teach S-Cubed Sight Singing Program on a platform called “Outschool”.  The company has been around since 2017.  They provide a platform for teachers to teach students anything from music to math to language arts to social studies to gaming to cooking…and on and on.  Almost everything you can imagine is there for students 18 and under who want to learn something new or to supplement what they are working on in their school setting.  Learners on the platform come from all over the world.  I’ll be able to teach as often as I want, when I want and from anywhere as long as I have a good internet connection, and after 30 years in the brick and mortar classroom, that sort of freedom sounds like a lovely next chapter for me and a natural extension of the work I’ve been doing with S-Cubed for all of these years. I haven’t been this excited to start a new endeavor since I found TeachersPayTeachers.  Outschool fits my life right now, and I really want to make it work and continue to teach students about sight singing and more!

…But I need your help!  I need people to help me spread the word that I am offering classes.  I need you to use social media and let parents who have children between the ages of 8 and 14 know that I’m teaching on the platform so that I can fill my classes with new learners.  I will include the links below with instructions along with some coupons that they can use.  If you have never signed up for Outschool, you’ll get a $20 coupon that you can use for the first class I teach or for another class that your child finds interesting on the platform.  

Which students would be a good fit for my S-Cubed offerings on Outschool?

Do you know a learner who is taking chorus from a teacher who doesn’t focus on teaching sight singing?

Do you know a learner who is home-schooled and would like supplemental music literacy training?

Do you know a learner who is an instrumentalist, but who wants to also learn solfege sight singing to become an even stronger reader?

Do you know a learner whose ear needs training?

Do you have a child, grandchild, niece or nephew you’d like to learn sight singing from the creator of the program because teaching your own family can be a challenge?

Do you know a learner who is ravenously hungry to learn everything possible about learning to read music but perhaps they don’t own a piano or other instrument in their home?

These are the types of students who are perfect for my classes with Outschool, so let their parents know about this opportunity.  My primary age group will be from 8-14 years old, but I will make exceptions to that rule for eager learners.  Just ask!

I am offering my first class “The Game” (Lesson 1 of S-Cubed) as a single class offering.  No commitment past the first class is required!   I’ve already set up multiple time slots of that class in my classroom, and those slots are ready to be filled with learners starting October 24, 2022.

After students take the first class called “The Game”, they will have the chance to take their first multi-day class as I continue the journey taking them step by step through the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program the same way I did “live” in the classroom for 30 years.  Each multi-day class offering will progress from Level 1 to Level 2 to Level 3 and so on. Each multi-day class will be a 4-6 class commitment as we work through the program.  Students can stop at any time in the process. Students who commit to all levels of the program will come out with the same skills my students did when I taught it “live”.  It will take months, but the payoff is worth it.  Students who complete the program will be able to sing a capella, two-part sight singing with skips as wide as an octave and syncopated rhythms without any help from anyone…All they will need is the starting pitch!

I will offer the classes at a variety of time slots so that learners have a chance of finding a class that fits their schedule.  You can even request times for me to teach the classes, and I will see if I can accommodate those requests if the classes I’ve listed on my page don’t work for your schedule.  

With my Outschool journey, I plan to follow the same path I followed with TpT.  I want to build my following and get as many reviews of my work as possible on the platform from learners/parents of learners.  I am hoping they will enjoy the learning so much that word of mouth will help more learners and parents find my work on the platform.  We all know that clicks/saves/likes helps more people find things when they search.  For example, if you type “middle school sight singing” into google, S-Cubed pops right to the top on the google thanks to you and to the years of reviews and posts about the program.

If you are planning to share this information with others who aren’t familiar with my work, please make clear to them the importance of leaving reviews so that I can build trust of the Outschool users the same way I did with TpT….and just tell them to type “middle school sight singing” into google to get more information about the program and to see the reviews.

Links to classes and coupons below!

Links to classes and coupons for free/discounted classes

Here are the links you’ll need in order to follow my work, get notified about new classes and take advantage of the discounts I am offering to help you and other interested parties to take the leap and register for Outschool and my first “one-time” S-Cubed class, “The Game” and possibly to embark on the series of multi-day classes that will lead the learner toward becoming incredibly competent, a capella sight singers with amazing well-trained ears!

How do I get started?

Step One-

Please “follow” my classroom and share it on social media.  Tag your friends who have children who might be interested in learning sight singing from me!

Click the link below and follow my classroom-

https://outschool.com/teachers/Mr-D-202209?usid=MFmxTKwy&signup=true&authTrigger=follow_teacher&utm_campaign=share_leader_link

Find the share button. USE IT to share on any and all social media with your friends and fellow music teachers!   Or simply share this email.  Here is a shareable link to this email- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e0zp7RB_0POM6MBjKXPkjYF5AIGMJIfM5C_TCTFagBo/edit?usp=sharing

Step two

Please “save” my class(es).  That will ensure that you are notified when I post new class sections that might fit your schedule.

I’ve only listed two right now because I am just getting started.  

Here is a link to my first class offering called “The Game”.  https://outschool.com/classes/3481e1f5-f019-48ef-8d56-acdf26e65978/schedule#usMFmxTKwy

Press “save” next to the class to keep up with future time offerings.  Taking this class is the first step on the S-Cubed journey, and everyone who is thinking about embarking on the larger S-Cubed journey must take it.  S-Cubed is cumulative.  Steps cannot be skipped regardless of background.  You’ll find lots of various time options over the next few weeks.  Remember…if you or someone you know takes the class, please leave a review so that I can begin building trust with the experienced users of the Outschool platform. Here is a link to my class schedule for the next several weeks.  I plan to add more class times soon.  Book the class as soon as you find the time that works for you.  

https://outschool.com/classes/3481e1f5-f019-48ef-8d56-acdf26e65978/schedule#usMFmxTKwy

Once students have completed “The Game”, they are ready to start the multi-day class called Level One.  Here is the link to that class.  https://outschool.com/classes/53bd5532-3858-41ab-b6af-64adc9d83426/schedule#usMFmxTKwy

Please press “save” next to the class so that you get notified of future class scheduling times.  This class offers Lessons 1, 2 and 3 of S-Cubed.  Level Two will offer Lessons 4, 5, and 6…and so on…until we get to lesson 27 of Level one of the original program!  As of today, October 21, 2022, I haven’t begun scheduling my Level One class because everyone who is thinking about embarking on the S-Cubed journey must complete “The Game” first.  I officially begin teaching on Outschool on Monday if I get learners enrolled.  Once I have ample numbers of students who’ve completed “The Game”, I’ll start scheduling Level One so we continue the S-Cubed journey.  By clicking “save”, you’ll be able to get information about the future classes I offer for Level 1.

Redeem Coupons-

First class with Mr. D will be FREE if you do this-

$20 off coupon by creating your account and signing up for Outschool and enrolling in your first class.

When you sign up for Outschool for the first time, Outschool offers a $20 coupon.  Once you verify your email address, they will give you access to your $20 off coupon.  So, essentially, the first class a learner takes with me can be “free”.  Here is a link with more information on how to get that coupon so you can apply it to my first class or to a future class or to another class by another teacher for your child.   https://support.outschool.com/en/articles/5578246-educator-coupons

$10 off coupon-Time sensitive

I’ve created a special coupon code for you that you can use between now and November 14th for your learner to get $10 off of one of my classes!  You must sign up for a class offering before November 14th! 

Coupon code: DUNCAR9ZW510

If you use the $20 off coupon for the first class so that it is free, I will start scheduling “level one” and you can use the $10 off coupon toward that class!

Calling all Teachers!

Does teaching on Outshool sound interesting to you?  The application process is pretty seamless.  I was approved quickly.  Email me with questions about the application process at onlineinthemiddlewithmrd@gmail.com and write “Potential Outschool Teacher” in the subject line.  

If you apply, please use this link and the code below. https://outschool.com/teach?signup=true&usid=MFmxTKwy&utm_campaign=share_invite_link&teacherReferral=true

And then use this code-

MFmxTKwy

My logo on the Outschool platform looks like this:

Thank you again for all of your support over the years and for helping me spread the word about my new Outschool S-Cubed Sight Singing teaching adventure!  

Dale Duncan

Aka Mr. D

Boo! It's a Halloween S-Cubed Sight Singing Program Giveaway!

Click the link below to enter the Giveaway!  I'll announce the winner on October 29 followed by two days of discounts for all who enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Singing Alone and with others... But not necessarily alone in front of others...

I taught middle school for 30 years in public schools.

I never forced children to sing alone in front of their peers.  

It just felt wrong.

Singing is quite an intimate experience. 

It comes out of our bodies.

Our voices are ours.

We get to share our voices if/when we want, and we get to decide how, when and where we want to share it.  

So, during my career, I followed my gut instinct and I never required students to sing alone in front of their peers unless THEY decided they wanted to do it.

Sometimes my students, for some reason...probably my lack of clear instruction in the moment... believed that I was going to require them to sing alone in front of their peers...and I remember them coming up to me and saying... "Are we going to have to sing this by ourselves in front of the class to get this grade?"

And all I remember is the fear in their faces and the relief when I said "Oh NO!  Absolutely not."

And during recruiting events, have you ever had a potential chorus student ask you the question "Will I have to sing alone if I join chorus?"

It's called "choir" for a reason.   Here is the definition of choir that I found on google.

It's a group activity.  

It is currently October 8, 2022.  Choir programs around the world are all rebuilding right now. Any activity or approach that could possibly deter potential growth should be relinquished, and I believe that forcing people to sing alone in front of their peers not only terrifies the people who have to do it, but that it has a high potential to shrink your program.

People talk about what goes on in our programs.  Word spreads quickly.  If a teacher is forcing children to sing alone in front of their peers, the children who aren't in choir are going to hear about it, and you will lose the chance to get them into your program.

You now ask...How do I assess the children?  How do I check their ranges and place them into their appropriate vocal section?  How do I assess their ability to sight sing?  How do I make sure they know their parts?

If you feel that you absolutely have to listen to all of your students sing in a setting that isn't the large group choral setting for these reasons or any other reasons, here are some possible approaches-

1).  Set up a time before or after school or on your planning period and give them specific time slots so that it's just you and the individual singer.

2).  Rather than have a child sing alone, have them sing in pairs or trios or quartets.  We are all trained musicians with good ears.  We can gather a lot of information quickly in a duet, trio or quartet situation.  For those folks with large programs, using quartets is a time-saver anyway.  And if we aren't terrifying the children by forcing them to sing alone in front of their peers, our programs are more likely to grow!

3).  If you decide to use class time to listen to your children individually or in very small groups, find ways to creatively make sure that the entire focus of the choral class isn't on the student(s) who are singing alone or in the very small groups.  There are so many ways to do this.  Give the students who aren't singing for you a different activity to do while you are listening.   Or take the student(s) who are singing for you into a different part of the room further away from the rest of the class.  Or make it a combo of these two ideas.  I'm sure there are many other ways to make this happen.  Just think about your individual classroom set ups and find a solution that allows you to get what you need while respecting the fact that for most folks who want to be in choir, singing alone is terrifying.  

Creating opportunities for soloists who WANT to sing alone is a completely different topic.  I believe that solo auditions should definitely be done in front of the class.  If you want to be a soloist, you have to be able to build up the courage to sing in front of people.  

Do you have a "top group" that students choose to audition for and they understand the requirements and are voluntarily being a part of it?  That's a completely different situation...

...But for the general population of potential choristers, the thought of having to sing alone is scary, and I believe it is a program killer...and in 2022, none of us needs to be doing things that kill our programs.

Some people may find this shocking or even appalling to learn, but in my career of 30 years, I never checked voices individually or even in small groups to place them or to assess them.  I just walked around the room and listened, and I did it in such a way that they rarely could tell what I was doing because I didn't want them to get nervous or to feel like it was some sort of test.   I had too many students in my program to take the time to listen individually or in small groups...and it was too big of a time suck for the program I was running.  

If I heard vocal issues in my students that I needed to address, I would ask the student to come see me one-on-one, and I would help them.  While that was probably also scary for some of them, doing it one-on-one was way less frightening, and it gave me the chance to really help that individual sing better, so the whole experience felt completely different than forcing them to sing alone in front of a class of their peers. 

I am going to get off of my soap box!  

I do hope that the 2022-2023 school year is going well for you.  If you taught before the pandemic, I hope the year is feeling more normal.  If you started teaching chorus during the 2020-2021 school year, bless you...you made it...and you finally get to really teach chorus.  If this is your first year teaching, you're lucky!  First years are always hard though.  I've got tons of videos on YouTube and many blog posts about classroom management, working with the changing male voice, song suggestions, and of course...sight singing!

How can I use SmartMusic with S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners?

Are you an S-Cubed Sight Singing Program user who also has a SmartMusic subscription?

Maybe you have access to SmartMusic, and you've heard of S-Cubed, but you don't know much about it, and you want to learn more?

Or perhaps you have never heard of S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners but you have a SmartMusic subscription.

Either way, if you have SmartMusic, you have access to an important supplemental tool that I created specifically for programs like SmartMusic to help teachers who use S-Cubed improve individual assessment and practice for their students.

And anyone who has a SmartMusic account can log in to check it out! (Don’t have an account, get a free 30-day trial here.)

Whatever your situation is, here is some information to help you make the most of S-Cubed in SmartMusic.

-----

What is S-Cubed?

S-Cubed is a sight singing curriculum I created to help chorus teachers who teach true beginners!  I wanted to create something that I would have wanted when I started teaching chorus back in the 20th century…before the internet!  I was tired of the moans I would hear from the students when I would say “Pull out the sight singing books.”   I wanted to enjoy teaching sight singing, and I wanted the students to enjoy learning it.  So, I put together a series of power points that include the daily lesson plans for the teachers.  I set up my I-phone in the corner of my room daily for two years, and I recorded myself actually teaching the program.  I uploaded those videos to YouTube and included the links in the power points.  AND, each day I filmed teaching tips for every single lesson in the program and uploaded those to YouTube as well and included those links in the power points too.  I wanted to do everything I could to help teachers and their students be successful as they navigate this program that is like no other sight singing program on the market.  It is part method and part philosophy.  When students complete the program, they know how to successfully sight sing choral music a capella with syncopated rhythms and skips as wide as an octave.  Teachers all over the globe have been using it and reviewing it since 2013.  Here are the reviews!  The program can be purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers and JW Pepper.  District “Multiple License Discounts” are available.  Contact me directly at inthemiddlewithmrd@gmail.com to access those or if you have more questions about S-Cubed.  

Soon after I designed the program, I decided to create one-to-one correlated, supplemental sight-singing practice examples that I hoped to use for computerized individual assessment in which students would sing into a microphone on a device and get immediate feedback and a grade.

Perfect for SmartMusic, right?

Personally, I've always struggled to make time for individual sight-singing assessments because of the large number of students in my program. I hoped to simply be able to look at the summary/grade of their work on the supplemental examples and get immediate information. Sometimes, in my gut, I knew that Bobby, who sits on row 4 in my class of 84 students, was struggling with sight-singing, but I couldn't verify it easily. 

Maybe you just want your students to practice what they learned in S-Cubed that day a little bit more if the example was a bit challenging for the class. Or maybe you want to give a sight- singing "quiz.”

With the supplemental exercises offered in SmartMusic, problems like these are solved!

How does it work? 

Below are three ways to use SmartMusic with S-Cubed:

#1-

In S-Cubed, we don't actually start sight-singing until Lesson 4 of the program. (That's usually "week 4" of the program if you see your students daily for 50 minutes). After you do your first real sight-singing example in Lesson 4 in class with your students, you can create an assignment (Lesson 4 Day 2, for example) to send to students. You could also share Playlists of these exercises with students, or even group them sequentially into Units for students to access. Here are some great tips and ideas for how to utilize SmartMusic in and outside of your music class!  

#2-

You may not want to do every single correlating supplemental example I've written for SmartMusic. Maybe it feels like overkill. Perhaps they struggled on Lesson 6, Day 2 in class, so you decided to send them into SmartMusic to Lesson 6, Day 2 to do the correlating example for a little extra practice.  

#3-

You may simply want to use SmartMusic as a "quiz" grade periodically. Perhaps you just finished Lesson 9 Day 3, and it feels like time for a check-up so you can see how everyone is performing individually, but you don't want to take class time to listen to the students. Simply assign Lesson 9 Day 3 and your students will receive instant feedback when they are working through the exercise in SmartMusic, AND you will have access to listen to their submissions and provide valuable feedback (and gather data on student progress)!

Using S-Cubed in SmartMusic can save you lots of time and give you so much information that you might otherwise not garner individually during class time.  

You make the decision about how to use the SmartMusic S-Cubed supplemental examples in your setting with your students.

I have never heard of S-Cubed, but I have SmartMusic...

Or

I have SmartMusic, and I've heard of S-Cubed, but I don't own it...

Either way, you can use SmartMusic to learn more about how the program works.

In the supplemental practice/assessment examples, I've included a lot of guidance for users that was designed to help reinforce what you taught in class.

Here are two examples-

So, whether you've heard of S-Cubed Sight-Singing Program or not, since you have access to SmartMusic, you have a lot of information at your fingertips to help you learn more!

If you have questions about S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners, reach out to me directly at inthemiddlewithmrd@gmail.com.