We put the S-Cubed AI Coach to the test- And the possibilities are bigger than I imagined

When I first started building the S-Cubed AI Coach, the obvious goal was pretty simple:

Help teachers successfully teach the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program.  In the original program, I did my best to dot every "i" and cross every "t" by including video links to teaching examples and teaching tips for every lesson.  It was a mammoth project that took two years.  Even so, I still get tons of questions via email that I have answered for years, and I don't mind it, but...what if I were right by your side?  That's what this is like...

We've been testing it for weeks. Click here to see what it can do.

The possibilities with this app are way stronger than I thought when I started this journey in late July 2026.  

This Coach can help teachers navigate far more than the mechanics of teaching sight singing.

As you can see from the video, it can navigate a multitude of problems.

My longtime friend and fellow music educator David Stauffer has been putting the Coach through its paces and sending me screenshots daily.  

He's been asking hard questions.

We wanted to know what would happen when a teacher brought it the kinds of messy, complicated, very human situations that actually happen in a middle school chorus classroom.

Because teaching chorus isn't just about:

“What exercise should I teach tomorrow?”

It’s also about the seventh-grade boy whose voice suddenly doesn’t work the way it did three weeks ago.

It’s about helping that student understand that nothing is wrong with him while his voice is changing.

It’s about finding ways to keep him singing while protecting his confidence and dignity.

It’s about the child who is terrified to sing alone.

The student who is embarrassed because everyone else seems to be getting it faster.

The class that suddenly becomes unusually talkative.

The rehearsal where classroom management begins slipping away from you.

The group that isn't progressing as quickly as you expected.

The class that meets twice a week instead of five times a week.

The teacher wondering whether to slow down, move forward, reteach something, change the activity, or simply give the students another day.

Those are teaching problems, not just S-Cubed problems.

And that distinction is becoming increasingly apparent to me as we do more to make sure it reflects my teaching approach.

I didn't want a generic AI telling teachers what to do

One of my biggest concerns while creating this Coach was that I did not want teachers asking an S-Cubed question and receiving generic teaching advice pulled from somewhere out in the universe.

I wanted the answers to sound like the philosophy I have shared with teachers since I began putting S-Cubed into the world in 2013.

So I've continued feeding the Coach the thinking behind the program.

My syllabus was uploaded so it would show how I handle classroom management issues.

My writings and videos about classroom management that I've used for years were uploaded as well.  

My philosophies about teaching middle school students have been included.

Material from my blog posts and other resources I've created over the years has been incorporated so the Coach understands not only what I teach, but why I teach it that way. 

I didn't want an app with my name attached to it that did anything other than reflect my teaching philosophies.  

S-Cubed has never simply been a collection of sight-singing exercises.

I've always said S-Cubed is part method and part philosophy.

There is a philosophy about pacing.

There is a philosophy about mistakes.

There is a philosophy about adolescent voices.

There is a philosophy about classroom management.

There is a philosophy about creating a room where children feel safe enough to take musical risks.

There is a philosophy about knowing when to push and when to back off.

And there is a philosophy I have believed deeply for years:

Protect the child first.  Respect is circular.

The changing male voice is a perfect example

Anyone who has taught middle school chorus knows how vulnerable this period can be for boys.

A voice that once felt predictable suddenly cracks.

Notes disappear.

Range changes.

A student may feel as though everyone in the room can hear something happening to him that he cannot control.

Handled poorly, that experience can make a boy decide he “can't sing.”

Handled well, it can help him understand that his voice isn't broken.

It is developing.

That requires more than knowing which pitch to give him.

It requires empathy.

It requires language.

It requires knowing how to adjust expectations without making him feel singled out.

It requires maintaining his dignity in front of his peers.

Those ideas are deeply embedded in the way I have taught for decades, and I wanted them embedded in this Coach too.

And then there is classroom management

Middle school teachers know this situation well:

Yesterday's lesson worked beautifully.

Today you try exactly the same structure, and somehow the room has completely changed.

It's middle school after all!

Maybe one child is disrupting the rehearsal.

Maybe several students are feeding off one another.

Maybe the energy level is unusually high.

Maybe students are afraid of an activity, and their anxiety is showing up as talking, joking, or avoidance.

Good classroom management isn't always about finding a consequence.

Sometimes it is about figuring out why the behavior is occurring in the first place.

That is another area where the Coach surprised us during testing.

You can describe what is happening.

You can tell it what you've tried.

You can explain where you are in S-Cubed.

You can talk through the personalities involved.

And the conversation can become much more nuanced than:

“Here is Lesson 7. Teach these measures.”

What about the student who is afraid to sing?

That student has been in virtually every chorus room I have ever taught.

Sometimes they're shy.

Sometimes they're perfectionists.

Sometimes they're afraid their classmates will laugh.

Sometimes they genuinely believe they cannot sing.

Sometimes they have simply never been in an environment where using their singing voice felt safe.

No curriculum guide can predict every one of those situations.

A teacher has to respond to the human being standing in front of them.

That's where I believe a tool like this becomes particularly helpful.

Not because AI replaces the teacher.

Quite the opposite.

The teacher is still making the decision.

The Coach simply gives the teacher another experienced perspective to consider.

Imagine having someone to ask

One of the thoughts that has stayed with me throughout this entire project is how much I would have appreciated something like this when I was a young teacher.  

Someone I could ask:

“My boys' voices are changing, and suddenly this exercise isn't working. What should I do?”

“My students are getting frustrated. Should I move on?”

“I've got one student who refuses to sing. How can I help without embarrassing them?”

“My classroom management has fallen apart during this activity. What would you change?”

“We only meet twice a week. Am I moving too slowly?”

“My concert is coming up. How should I adjust my pacing?”

“What would you do tomorrow?”

For most of my career, teachers had to figure those things out alone.

Maybe you had an experienced colleague down the hallway.

Maybe you had a mentor.

Maybe you could email somebody and hope they had time to respond.

But many music educators—especially young teachers—don't have that person readily available.

That possibility is what excites me most about this project.

This is becoming bigger than I originally envisioned

The more we test the S-Cubed AI Coach, the more possibilities I see.

Yes, it can help you work through S-Cubed.

It can help with pacing.

It can help you think through lessons.

It can help you understand what might come next.

But it can also help you think about:

• the changing adolescent voice

• protecting students' dignity

• reluctant and shy singers

• classroom management

• student engagement

• differentiation

• pacing for different schedules

• responding when a lesson doesn't work

• reflecting on what happened today

• deciding what to change tomorrow

And we are still testing.

We are still asking harder questions.

We are still finding situations that I want the Coach to understand more deeply.

My goal has been to create something that helps teachers make better decisions for the children standing in front of them.

That has always been the heart of S-Cubed.

The technology may be new.

The philosophy behind it isn't.

It's the same philosophy I have been sharing with teachers for more than a decade:

Teach the child.

Protect their dignity.

Keep them singing.

Give them room to make mistakes.

Make learning challenging enough to matter and joyful enough that they want to come back tomorrow.

And now, teachers can have that philosophy available when they need it most.

The possibilities really are enormous.

Go check it out-  It's on Studio.com!

I'm doing a "live" demonstration of it on Tuesday, October 6th at 7 PM EST.

Reserve your spot-  Click here to get reminders.

If you’ve built an audience around your expertise, you may be sitting on an app idea without realizing it. Studio gave me a way to turn years of teaching knowledge, resources, and philosophy into an interactive AI Coach—and creators in many different fields could do the same. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could put what I know into something people could use anytime,” take a look at Studio through my affiliate link here: 

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

Before S-Cubed Was Ever a Product, There was David

Before S-Cubed Was Ever a Product, 

There Was David

Long before S-Cubed became a product, and long before I imagined building an AI Coach around it, there was my friend, fellow musician, and international fitness presenter and future National Champion in Aerobic Gymnastics, David Stauffer.

David and I met at an aerobics workshop in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1992. He had majored in music with a piano focus, and he loved fitness, and so did I.  We connected immediately, and we have been close friends ever since.

Soon after we met in 1992, I won a gold medal in Aerobic Gymnastics, and David moved to Europe for an opportunity to begin presenting about fitness internationally. David, or Dave as I call him, was there the night I won, and he watched it "live".  In 1996, he invited me to Italy to help train him for an aerobics competition. It was my first international trip. While we worked together, he took me all over Italy. I remember the places, of course, but what stays with me most is the friend who brought me there...on my first international trip.  He took incredible care of me, making sure I got on the right trains.  With no experience travelling in a different country with a language I didn't know, I needed every bit of help I could get, and he gave it to me.  

In 2008, my husband's job took us to Lausanne, Switzerland of all places.  I stopped teaching during that time.  I became an International Judge for Aerobic Gymnastics, and I was fortunate to get to travel all over Europe representing the USA as a member of the judges panel.  David lived in Milan, about a 3-and-a-half-hour train ride over the Alps.  He decided he wanted to compete again in Aerobic Gymnastics, and he asked me to train him, so he schlepped across the Alps about twice monthly and stayed at our apartment and stayed overnight.  

During my time there, I was creating S-Cubed.  I've written about it here on my blog.  It is an incredibly special place to me because it was where the ideas flowed.  Joe and I came up with the name S-Cubed on a hill outside of that apartment-  Successful Sight Singing-  S-Cubed! 

Weekly, I would send my manuscripts for what I hoped would be a book.  He would write back-  "Too many exclamation points," and much more.  I was trying to capture the essence of the program in a written form.   He read my stuff religiously and sent feedback.  

That mattered so much to me.  I had no idea if anyone would ever care about what I called S-Cubed, but I was feverishly working on it.    

S-Cubed grew in real classrooms, through mistakes, revisions, conversations, and friends and colleagues who were willing to say, "Um...what about this?"  "What if you said it that way?" 

I sent what I wrote to Greg Gilpin, who was very helpful.  He said he would try to get it into the hands of people who might publish it.  He was super gracious about that.  I wrote to Patrick Freer, who had been super with my students at LGPE in New Jersey in the late 1990's, and he gave me publishing advice.  

I appreciated their support.  By 2012, nothing was happening, and I was about to let it go and move on to other stuff.  

Then, in November 2012, my husband, who is in the business world, brought home a business magazine with an article about Teachers Pay Teachers with a focus on Deanna Jump-  a very successful seller on the platform.  Here is a link to the article.

My husband said-  That's how you'll get it out there if you want to get it out there.  

The rest of that story is well-documented history, filled with a lot of hard work that was and is a game-changer in my life and in the lives of teachers and students all over the world.  

And now David is with me again at this new juncture-

David is one of the people testing the new S-Cubed AI Coach ahead of its October 6 official release on Studio.com. He is bringing it the kinds of questions that teachers actually face, then changing the circumstances to see how useful its guidance is.  He has tested it with all sorts of angles...from classroom management to new students arriving who don't speak English to an administrator giving him his dream schedule after he was only supposed to see his students twice daily.  When the "admin" gave him his students 5 days weekly, the AI Coach adapted immediately.  

These are the moments I was thinking about when I built the Coach. A curriculum can lay out a sequence of lessons, but a teacher still has to respond to the class in front of them. The schedule changes. A student needs a different way in. Yesterday’s lesson does not land. A new teacher needs a practical idea before tomorrow morning.

During my own teaching career, I often wished I had an experienced teacher nearby to ask about those moments. Usually, I did not. I wanted the S-Cubed AI Coach to give teachers a place to talk through a situation, consider options, and make their own informed decisions.

The teacher brings the part that matters most.

Watching David test the Coach has reinforced something for me: its suggestions are only part of the conversation. David knows his students and his school. He notices what the tool has missed. He can push back, add context, and decide whether an idea would work in his classroom.  I kept telling David to give the Coach as much info about what he was experiencing as possible so the Coach can help him the most.  

That is what I hope every teacher will do with it. Ask a question. Change a detail. Tell it when an answer does not fit. Keep your professional judgment at the center.

David also brings a lifetime of experience and a friendship that no software could reproduce. He has shared deeply personal stories in his own writing on Substack. Those stories are his to tell, and I value the trust and humanity behind them.  More on David's personal story later- 

A friendship that has come full circle

In 1992, we met because music and fitness happened to bring us to the same aerobics workshop. 

In 1996, we traveled through Italy while I helped him prepare for a competition. Years later, he helped me test early S-Cubed ideas. Now he is putting the AI Coach through its paces with the unpredictable situations a teacher encounters in a classroom.

I am grateful that he is asking hard questions and changing the variables. That is how I learn what needs to get better. Before I ask other teachers to trust this resource, I wanted people to use it, challenge it, and tell me where it helps and where it falls short.

On October 6, I will demonstrate the S-Cubed AI Coach "live" and share more about how teachers can use it. Before then, I wanted you to meet one of the people helping me make it the best it can be.  Sign up here to get reminders on Facebook.

My friend David. Thirty-four years of friendship, and apparently we are still testing things together.

Here are screenshots from the testing he has sent to me.  

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Here is the one in which he told the Coach that his principal came to him and told him that instead of seeing his students twice weekly, starting the next day, he would see them daily for 50 minutes...his dream schedule...but a nightmare for a new user of S-Cubed.  Thankfully, he had the coach.  

Here is a partial sample of some of the other screenshots from his testing of the app.  

He focused largely on Classroom Management issues in these screenshots, but he has tested it with a variety of questions.  

At the heart of all of this, there are still two human beings who met in 1992 and have spent more than three decades showing up for each other. David was there before anyone knew the name S-Cubed, when it was simply an idea I was trying to make work for real teachers in real classrooms. And now, all these years later, he is here again, helping me test something completely new using new technology. That matters to me because this work has never really been about a product or a piece of technology. It has always been about people. 

David knows something about that in ways far deeper than S-Cubed. He has chosen to write openly on Substack about his struggle with addiction, telling the truth about something that so many people live with quietly—teachers included, or the people they love. I hope some of them find his story and recognize that they are not alone. There is something profoundly human to me about both of us, at this stage of our lives, still trying to take what we have learned and use it to help people. That is also how I am choosing to approach AI. Not recklessly, and not without questions, but moving toward it thoughtfully rather than running from it out of fear. I did something similar in 2013 when I put S-Cubed into the world, long before I knew whether anyone would care. Had I allowed fear to make that decision for me, none of this would exist today. So I am moving toward this new technology the same way I have tried to move through most of my life: cautiously when caution is warranted, but ultimately from a place of love, curiosity, and service. The objective has not changed. I want to help teachers. And behind this new tool are real people, real friendship, real struggle, real history, and a great deal of love.

This is my friend, David Stauffer.  And again, Here is where he is sharing his struggle with addiction.

Thank you, sweetie!  

Love, D

If you’ve built an audience around your expertise, you may be sitting on an app idea without realizing it. Studio gave me a way to turn years of teaching knowledge, resources, and philosophy into an interactive AI Coach—and creators in many different fields could do the same. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could put what I know into something people could use anytime,” take a look at Studio through my affiliate link here: 

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

AI is already a part of the conversation in Music Education

There are two statements I think music educators need to hear right now.

NAfME has embraced the responsible exploration of AI in music education and has published guidance encouraging educators to understand how AI can support—not supplant—music learning.

And:

ACDA is actively engaging with AI rather than treating it as something that has no place in choral music. Choral Journal, ACDA’s official publication, now has a formal policy requiring authors to disclose their use of AI.

Those aren't my interpretations of where our profession might be headed someday.

This conversation is already happening within our national professional organizations.

What NAfME Is Actually Saying

The National Association for Music Education has gone considerably further than simply acknowledging that artificial intelligence exists.

In July 2025, NAfME published Guiding Principles, Frameworks, and Applications for AI in Music Education, developed by its AI Task Force. NAfME says the resource explores ways AI can enhance creativity, support performance, deepen student reflection, assist with assessment and productivity, and help educators think through the ethical responsibilities surrounding AI.

You can read NAfME's resource here:

NAfME: Guiding Principles, Frameworks, and Applications for AI in Music Education

NAfME also maintains an entire Artificial Intelligence and Music Education resource page containing articles, research, webinars, policy information, and practical resources for teachers.

NAfME: Artificial Intelligence and Music Education

One of the most important things NAfME has said about this subject is that AI presents opportunities to enhance creativity and instructional practice, but educators must ensure that these tools are used responsibly. NAfME has explicitly stated its commitment to exploring both the benefits and the appropriate use of generative AI in music education.

That distinction matters.

Support the teacher. Support learning. Preserve human creativity. Use the technology responsibly.

That's a very different conversation from either blindly embracing every new AI tool or declaring that AI has no legitimate place in music education.

NAfME has even published an article called “Make AI Your Personal Music Teaching Assistant,” discussing ways teachers can use AI to brainstorm ideas and support their professional workflow while also warning educators about limitations such as inaccurate AI-generated information.

NAfME: Make AI Your Personal Music Teaching Assistant

That's a remarkably good description of the philosophy behind what I have been building in my S-Cubed AI Coach.

What About ACDA?

The American Choral Directors Association is engaging this issue, too.

Choral Journal, ACDA's official peer-reviewed publication, now specifically requires authors to disclose their use of AI and provides an AI Use Policy for authors.

You can see ACDA's official submission guidelines here:

ACDA Choral Journal Submission Guidelines and AI Use Policy

Think about what that means.

ACDA isn't pretending AI doesn't exist.

It isn't responding to AI by simply saying, "This has no place in our profession."

Instead, it is developing expectations around transparency, authorship, and responsible use.

That's exactly the type of conversation I believe we need to be having.

ACDA's next national conference will take place March 7–10, 2027, in Minneapolis, with educational sessions and research addressing current and emerging issues within the choral profession. As of September 2026, however, ACDA has not yet publicly posted the complete individual session lineup, so I don't want to claim that a particular AI session will be presented until ACDA publishes that program.

You can follow the official conference information here:

ACDA 2027 National Conference

To me, the larger point is already clear.

Our professional organizations are not solving the AI question by pretending the technology will disappear. They are educating, researching, creating guidelines, and talking about responsible use.

And I think music educators should do the same.

That Is Exactly How I Am Approaching the S-Cubed AI Coach

This is also why I want people to understand what I have actually created with the S-Cubed AI Coach before forming an opinion about it.

I did not create an AI app to replace the choir director.

I created one to help the choir director.

There is a huge difference.

For more than a decade, teachers using S-Cubed have emailed me questions:

• What do I do when my students aren't following the hand?

• What happens when they start getting bored?

• How do I handle a difficult classroom-management situation?

• How do I adapt this lesson for students with different needs?

• What if I'm only seeing my students twice a week?

• What if my schedule suddenly changes?

• What should I do next when something isn't working?

• Do I start from the beginning next year?

For years, I have personally answered those questions.

The S-Cubed AI Coach is an attempt to make that guidance available to teachers when they need it.

I've been feeding the Coach the philosophies I've developed and shared since 2013. I've given it my teaching materials, my syllabus, my writing, my videos, my approaches to classroom management, and the principles behind how S-Cubed works.

The goal isn't for a generic AI system to tell a choir director how to teach.

The goal is for a teacher using my program to be able to ask a question about implementing that program and receive guidance grounded as closely as possible in the teaching philosophy behind it...the teaching philosophy that is mine that I still use when I lead choirs as a guest conductor, for example.  

And the teacher still makes the decision.

The teacher remains the professional.

The teacher knows the students.

The teacher knows the classroom.

The teacher listens to the voices.

The teacher builds relationships.

The teacher makes the music.

AI doesn't replace any of that.

Responsible AI Doesn't Mean Unquestioning AI

I also don't believe responsible AI use means believing everything an AI system produces.

It shouldn't.

AI can make mistakes. It requires oversight. It requires human judgment. It requires transparency. And in education especially, privacy and appropriate use have to remain central considerations.

Those are exactly the conversations NAfME is encouraging educators to have.

And they're exactly the conversations I want surrounding the S-Cubed AI Coach.

I'm not asking music educators to abandon everything they know because a new technology has arrived.

Quite the opposite.

I'm asking:

How can we take the knowledge experienced teachers already possess and use technology to make that knowledge more accessible to other teachers?

How can we give a young teacher struggling at 9:30 on a Tuesday morning some of the guidance that previously might have required finding a mentor, sending me an email, and waiting for a response?

How can technology reduce some of the overwhelm of teaching so that educators have more time and energy for the human parts of music education?

The students.

The relationships.

The rehearsal.

The artistry.

The music.

We Don't Have to Choose Between Technology and Humanity

I think sometimes the AI conversation gets framed as though there are only two choices.

Embrace everything AI does.

Or reject all of it.

I don't accept those choices.

I spent 30 years in public-school music classrooms.

S-Cubed came out of my classroom because I moved out of the love of helping teachers and students succeed rather than out of fear of posting my stuff online.  Before S-Cubed, all sight-singing materials were books only.  S-Cubed came from years of figuring out what worked, what failed, what motivated middle-school students, and what helped beginning singers become independent musicians using the technology that was available at the time.  

None of that disappears because we have new technology.  

If anything, I want to use the technology to make those years of experience more accessible to the next teacher who needs them, and that philosophy is in line with my journey sharing S-Cubed from the beginning in 2013.  

That's why I find the direction from organizations like NAfME—and the transparency expectations being established by ACDA—encouraging.

They aren't saying that AI should replace music educators.

Neither am I.

They're recognizing that AI is here and that music educators need to understand it, question it, develop ethical standards around it, and determine where it can genuinely serve teaching and learning.

That's the conversation I want to be part of.

And that's the philosophy behind the S-Cubed AI Coach.

Not AI instead of teachers.

AI in service of teachers.

Because ultimately, the most important technology in a choir room is still the person standing in front of the students.

If you’ve built an audience around your expertise, you may be sitting on an app idea without realizing it. Studio gave me a way to turn years of teaching knowledge, resources, and philosophy into an interactive AI Coach—and creators in many different fields could do the same. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could put what I know into something people could use anytime,” take a look at Studio through my affiliate link here: 

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

The S-Cubed AI Coach is for Teachers- Not Student Data

As I’ve begun sharing the S-Cubed AI Coach, I’ve received some really thoughtful questions from music educators.

And I’m glad people are asking them.

Questions about student privacy, what information needs to be entered, whether teachers have to upload videos, and how AI fits responsibly into a music classroom are legitimate questions.

So I want to make something very clear:

The S-Cubed AI Coach is designed to help you, the teacher, teach S-Cubed more successfully.

**It is not designed to collect information about your students.  It's for you only.  **

You do not need to enter student names.

You do not need to upload rosters.

You do not need to enter grades, IEP information, student records, or other personally identifiable student information.

And you do not need to upload photos, audio recordings, or videos of your students in order to get meaningful help from the Coach.

In fact, I encourage teachers to keep student-identifying information out of their conversations with the Coach.

If you are having a problem with a seventh-grade class, for example, you can simply describe the situation:

“My seventh graders are struggling to stay focused during Forbidden Pattern. What would Dale suggest?”

The Coach does not need to know who those children are.

It needs to understand the teaching problem you are trying to solve.

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Think of It as a Conversation Between You and a Coach

That may be the easiest way to understand what I have built.

You + the S-Cubed AI Coach.

That’s the relationship.

The purpose of the app is to give an S-Cubed teacher access to guidance when a question comes up:

Am I moving too quickly?

Why are they struggling with this lesson?

Should I repeat this activity tomorrow?

Can I skip lessons and start at lesson five?  (That's a BIG no!)

My students are getting bored. How can I refresh this without abandoning the sequence?

This class is behaving very differently from my other classes. What should I change?

I only see these students twice a week. How should I adjust the pacing?

I’m having classroom-management problems during this part of the lesson. What would Dale do?

Those are the kinds of questions teachers have sent me by email for years.

And I want to emphasize something:

I have never minded answering them.

I have personally answered teacher questions about S-Cubed since I began sharing the program in 2013.

Many of those questions appear again and again because teaching is complicated.

Two teachers can use exactly the same curriculum and encounter completely different situations because their schedules, students, schools, experience levels, rehearsal structures, and classroom cultures are different.

The original S-Cubed curriculum was designed to give you everything you need to successfully teach the program.

The AI Coach does not change that.

You absolutely do not need the Coach in order to use S-Cubed.

But what I have always wished I could provide is something even more personal:

What if I could be standing beside you when the question actually occurred?

That is the problem that this app solves.  After class, you do a reflection, and then the app helps you.  You tell it what went well and what didn't.  

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When I started building this in July of 2026, I didn't know what it would be able to do...

At that time, I thought primarily about answering the questions I had received repeatedly over the years.

But as I built it, tested it, challenged it, corrected it, and continued feeding it my approach to teaching S-Cubed, I realized it could help teachers in ways I had not originally imagined.

It can help you think through:

Pacing.

Classroom management.

Student engagement.

Differentiation.

Re-teaching.

Refreshing an activity that has gotten stale.

Working around unusual schedules.

Helping a struggling group without holding back a stronger group.

Getting back on track after interruptions.

And, of course, the day-to-day journey through S-Cubed itself.

Sometimes a teacher doesn’t need another curriculum.

Sometimes they need an experienced teacher to say:

“Based on what you just described, here is what I would try tomorrow.”

That is what I want this Coach to do.

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You Do NOT Have to Upload Video Content

This is another question I want to address clearly.

The Coach can provide feedback based on video in situations where a teacher chooses to use that capability.

But **video is optional.  In fact, before you purchase, you tell the app whether you want to upload video of your teaching (not the students).  It is a function that you can choose to use or not. **

You are not required to record yourself teaching.

You are not required to upload anything from your classroom.

You can use the S-Cubed AI Coach entirely through conversation.

Describe what happened by either typing or talking to the app with the microphone.  

Describe what you tried.

Tell it what your schedule looks like.

Tell it where you are in the program.

Tell it what isn’t working.

Tell it what is working.

Then ask for help.

That alone can produce an incredibly useful conversation.

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The Original S-Cubed Program Is Still the Program

This distinction matters to me.

The AI Coach is not replacing S-Cubed.

It is not writing a different sight-singing curriculum for you.

It isn't replacing the teacher.

And it certainly isn't replacing the musicians sitting in front of you.

The students still have to sing.

They still have to listen.

They still have to think.

They still have to make mistakes, adjust, practice, develop independence, and become musicians.

And you still teach them.

The Coach is an additional support layer around the curriculum I created.

The same teaching philosophy.

The same sequence.

The same mission.

More support.

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What About AI and Music Education?

I also think it is important to acknowledge the larger conversation taking place in our profession.

Our national professional organization, NAfME — the National Association for Music Education — is actively addressing artificial intelligence in music education.

In July 2025, NAfME published Guiding Principles, Frameworks, and Applications for AI in Music Education, developed by its AI Task Force. NAfME describes the resource as helping music educators understand ways AI may support areas including instructional practice, creativity, reflection, assessment, productivity, and accessibility while also considering the ethical responsibilities surrounding its use.

Importantly, NAfME's guidance is not simply, “Use AI for everything.”

Nor is it, “AI has no place in music education.”

The conversation is much more thoughtful than that.

NAfME encourages educators to consider AI intentionally and mindfully, with attention to issues including privacy, intellectual property, transparency, ethics, and the irreplaceable importance of human music-making. Its guidance specifically discusses using AI to support rather than supplant music learning.

That philosophy resonates deeply with what I am trying to do.

Human beings are still at the center of this.

The teacher.

The student.

The rehearsal.

The singing.

The relationship between a great teacher and the young musicians standing in front of them.

I have no interest in replacing any of that.

I am interested in using a new tool to help the human teacher become more confident and effective.

---

The Same Mission I Have Had Since 2013

When I first put S-Cubed online in 2013, what I was doing was pretty unusual.

Traditional music publishers had not been interested in what I created.

But I knew the approach was working with my beginners.

So I found another way.

I recorded myself teaching.

I made PowerPoints.

I put videos online.

I wrote teaching tips.

I tried to anticipate the problems another middle school chorus teacher might encounter hundreds or thousands of miles away.

The technology was different.

The mission was exactly the same.

Help teachers.

That is still my mission.

The S-Cubed AI Coach is simply the newest way I have found to do it.

And because this technology is new, I think those of us using it have a responsibility to use it thoughtfully.

That includes protecting student privacy.

That includes respecting school and district policies.

That includes remembering that technology should serve good teaching — not become the reason we are teaching.

And it includes being transparent about what the tool is actually designed to do.

---

So Here Is the Simplest Way I Can Say It

Don't give the S-Cubed AI Coach student-identifying information. It doesn't need it.

You don't have to upload classroom videos.

You don't have to use the Coach to successfully teach S-Cubed.

But if you want help while you're teaching the program…

If you want another set of experienced eyes on a problem…

If you want help figuring out tomorrow's lesson after today didn't go the way you expected…

If you want help with pacing, engagement, classroom management, differentiation, or simply figuring out “What should I do next?”

That is exactly why I built it.

I have tested the Coach extensively, and even though it is already available, **I am still testing it along with other teachers.  I tested it earlier today.  **

I'm still trying new situations.

I'm still looking for weaknesses.

I'm still asking difficult questions.

Because I want this tool to do what I have tried to do since the very beginning of S-Cubed:

Help teachers succeed.

And when teachers succeed, their students have a better chance to succeed too.

S-Cubed stands for Successful Sight Singing-  that means success for the students AND for you, and this tool can help you if you need it.  

Same mission. New tool. More support.

If you’ve built an audience around your expertise, you may be sitting on an app idea without realizing it. Studio gave me a way to turn years of teaching knowledge, resources, and philosophy into an interactive AI Coach—and creators in many different fields could do the same. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could put what I know into something people could use anytime,” take a look at Studio through my affiliate link here: 

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

How to Purchase the S-Cubed AI Coach With School Funds

One of the questions I’m already receiving from teachers about the S-Cubed AI Coach on Studio.com is:

“Can I use school funds to purchase it?”

The answer is yes — absolutely.

I strongly encourage teachers to use school, department, professional development, or other approved instructional funds whenever those funds are available to you.

But purchasing through a school can sometimes involve a few extra questions from bookkeepers, administrators, or purchasing departments. One teacher recently went through this process, and Studio was kind enough to answer the purchasing questions directly.

I’m putting all of that information in one place so you can simply send this article to your administrator or purchasing department if they have questions.

First: Who Is the Vendor?

This is an important distinction.

When you purchase access to the S-Cubed AI Coach, you are purchasing through Studio.com, not directly from me personally.

It is similar to purchasing one of my resources through Teachers Pay Teachers. I created the content, but the company processing the transaction is the vendor.

For Studio purchases, the legal business/vendor name is:

Openmind Learning, Inc.

Studio’s billing address is:

5850 W 3rd St, Ste E #1503
Los Angeles, CA 90036

What About a W-9?

This is one of the most common questions I receive when teachers are using school funds.

Because the purchase is being made through Studio rather than directly from Dale Duncan or S-Cubed, my personal W-9 is not the appropriate W-9 for this purchase.

Studio has told me that they have not historically provided W-9s for these purchases.

If your school specifically requires a W-9 or needs additional vendor documentation, your purchasing department can contact Studio directly using the contact information at the bottom of this article.

That is different from a situation in which a school is hiring me personally — for example, to present professional development, conduct a choir, lead a workshop, or provide another service directly. In those situations, the school may be contracting with me personally and the paperwork would be different.

For the S-Cubed AI Coach, however, Studio/Openmind Learning, Inc. is the company handling the transaction.

Can My School Use a Purchase Order?

Yes.

Studio has confirmed that schools may use their normal purchase-order approval process.

There is one important thing to understand:

The final Studio purchase must still be made by credit card.

In other words, your school may create or approve a purchase order internally, but Studio currently requires the actual order to be placed using a card.

Studio does not currently offer traditional invoicing where the school receives an invoice first and mails payment later.

So a typical process might look something like this:

1. Ask your administrator or purchasing department for approval to purchase the S-Cubed AI Coach.

2. Complete any purchase-order paperwork your district requires.

3. Provide the vendor information in this article.

4. Have the authorized school employee or department complete the Studio purchase using the school's purchasing card or another approved credit card.

5. Save the Studio receipt for your school's records and reimbursement or expense process.

Every district handles purchasing a little differently, so your school's internal process may vary.

What About Tax-Exempt Purchases?

Studio has told me that taxes are automatically calculated based upon the purchaser's billing address.

The purchaser receives a receipt after the transaction and can submit that receipt through the school's normal expense or purchasing process.

If your school has specific questions about tax-exempt purchasing, I recommend having your purchasing department contact Studio directly before completing the transaction.

Is There a Studio Vendor Packet?

At this time, Studio does not have a standard school vendor packet or purchasing-document package that I can distribute to teachers.

That is one of the reasons I created this page.

You can send this article directly to your:

• Principal

• Fine arts administrator

• Bookkeeper

• School secretary

• District purchasing department

• Professional development coordinator

It contains the basic vendor information Studio has provided to me.

What If My Purchasing Department Needs More Information?

Studio has given me a direct contact for school purchasing questions.

Cathy at Studio
Cathy@studio.com

Your administrator or purchasing department is welcome to contact Cathy directly if they need additional information or documentation.

A Quick Purchasing Summary

Here is the information your school may need:

Product: S-Cubed AI Coach
Platform: Studio.com
Vendor/legal business name: Openmind Learning, Inc.
Billing address: 5850 W 3rd St, Ste E #1503, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Purchase orders: Allowed as part of the school's purchasing process
Payment: Final order must be completed by credit card
Traditional invoicing: Not currently available
Receipt: Provided after purchase
Standard vendor packet: Not currently available
School purchasing questions: Cathy@studio.com

Please Use School Funds When You Can

Teachers spend far too much of their own money supporting their classrooms.

If your school or district provides funding for curriculum, instructional technology, professional development, music education resources, or teacher support, I encourage you to ask whether those funds can be used for the S-Cubed AI Coach.

The entire reason I created this tool is to give teachers more support while they are using S-Cubed — whether you are beginning Lesson 1 for the first time, trying to solve a classroom-management problem, refreshing something you've taught before, or simply wishing you had someone available to answer an S-Cubed question when you need it.

And if someone in your purchasing department has a question that this page doesn't answer, please have them contact Studio directly at Cathy@studio.com.

I hope this makes the purchasing process a little easier — and keeps more of those teacher dollars in your own pocket.

---

Ready to Explore the S-Cubed AI Coach?  It's available early!

Visit my S-Cubed AI Coach storefront on Studio.com:
https://studio.com/daleduncanscubedcoach

Want to Learn More and See the App Operate Live?

Join me for a live Zoom event on October 6 at 7:00 PM Eastern.

You can mark yourself as Going or Interested on the Facebook event page so you’ll receive reminders:

https://www.facebook.com/share/19nkmyhuSG/

Want to See What Happens Before You Purchase?

I made a short, approximately five-minute video that walks you through the S-Cubed AI Coach onboarding process step-by-step before you actually purchase.

You can see what the app asks you, how the onboarding works, and how it begins building a more personalized coaching experience for you.

Watch the onboarding video here:
https://youtu.be/k2HlPMXqsc0?is=bFd_3c6YsIg4dFQu

If you’ve built an audience around your expertise, you may be sitting on an app idea without realizing it. Studio gave me a way to turn years of teaching knowledge, resources, and philosophy into an interactive AI Coach—and creators in many different fields could do the same. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish I could put what I know into something people could use anytime,” take a look at Studio through my affiliate link here: 

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

---

Dale Duncan
Creator of the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners
S-Cubed AI Coach Creator

---

Are You a Creator Too?

If you are a teacher, TPT seller, content creator, coach, or other creator who has ever thought about building your own AI-powered coaching app, you can learn more about creating one through Studio here:

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

Want to Build Your Own Coaching App? What I Learned Creating My S-Cubed AI Coach with Studio.com

If you’re a creator, teacher-author, coach, or curriculum seller, I want to encourage you to think seriously about something that may be bigger than your next product.

What if the expertise you’ve built over years of teaching, creating, troubleshooting, and answering questions could become its own app?

That’s exactly what I’ve done with my S-Cubed AI Coaching app, and I believe more creators should be exploring this path — especially those of us who have spent years building resources, supporting customers, and developing a recognizable teaching voice.

If you want to learn how Studio works and explore what it might look like for your own business, here is my affiliate link:

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

Why I Created My Own Coaching App

For 13 years now, teachers have used my S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners and have reached out with questions.

Some are brand new and need help getting started.

Some are in the middle of teaching it and run into classroom management issues, especially with the gamified parts of the program.

Some have used S-Cubed for a long time and simply want a fresh perspective or renewed momentum.

My app is designed to feel like having me with you when those questions come up.

It can guide teachers through implementation, help them troubleshoot problems, offer ideas, reinforce my philosophy, and support them in a way that feels practical and immediate. That’s what made me realize something important:

This isn’t just about my app. This is a model other creators can use too.

If you have a curriculum, a framework, a method, a coaching style, or a body of expertise people already come to you for, you may be sitting on something that could become an app of its own.  From Fitness to Education to Business apps, if you have created something, it's likely that you could create a useful app to help your users.  

This Is Bigger Than Music Education

My audience is rooted in choral music education, but this idea goes far beyond that.

Yes, I think this is especially worth considering if you are:

• a choral director
• a music educator
• a Teachers Pay Teachers seller
• a curriculum writer
• a teacher-author.    
• a private instructor
• a coach or consultant of any sort

But really, this applies to any highly motivated content creator who has valuable knowledge and wants to build something that can help people while also creating another stream of income.

If people regularly ask you:

• “How do you do this?”
• “Can you help me get started?”
• “What would you do in this situation?”
• “What’s your process?”
• “Can you look at this and guide me?”

…then you may already have the raw material for a coaching app.

Why This Matters Financially

Let’s be honest: many creators are looking for ways to build something that is both meaningful and financially worthwhile.

I understand that because that's what I have done with S-Cubed and all of my other products.  I've followed the passion first, and then the money came.  That's always been my philosophy.  

A well-designed coaching app can allow you to extend your reach beyond one-on-one support, beyond a static PDF, and beyond answering the same questions over and over in emails or DMs. It can take your expertise and turn it into an interactive experience that supports users more consistently and gives you a way to monetize your knowledge in a new format.

That’s especially relevant for people who already sell resources online.

Many of us have spent years creating products. But an app offers something different. It can feel more dynamic, more responsive, and more personal. It can serve beginners, returning users, and experienced customers in different ways — all while staying centered on your own voice, philosophy, and method.

That is powerful.

Yes, There Are Concerns About AI — and I Respect Them

I also want to say this clearly: I understand why some people have concerns about AI.

Some are concerned about ethics and overreliance.

Some are concerned about originality, privacy, trust, or the possibility that technology could weaken the human side of teaching and artistry.

Those concerns are real, and I believe they deserve respect.

For me, the goal is not to replace the human being.

The goal is to extend the reach of the human being.  With my own app, I am not creating music.  I am using it to support the teachers who have trusted my work.  

That’s how I think about my app. It is not “me replaced.” It is my experience, my thinking, my teaching approach, and my support made more accessible to the people who need it.

Used responsibly, this kind of tool can help creators serve people better — not by removing the human touch, but by amplifying it.

What NAfME Says About AI

I think it matters that the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) has taken AI seriously as an area music educators need to understand thoughtfully.

On its official AI resource page, NAfME says that artificial intelligence “has the potential to significantly transform the landscape of music education.” It also says NAfME will continue to provide music educators with information about AI policy, regulation, and classroom application.

NAfME’s 2025 guidance, Guiding Principles, Frameworks, and Applications for AI in Music Education, also acknowledges that teachers are approaching this from different places. I appreciate that the organization explicitly says: “Whether you’re curious, cautious, or already experimenting with AI,” educators need help making “valuable, informed decisions” about its use.

That wording matters to me.

Why?

Because it makes room for nuance.

It makes room for people who are excited, people who are hesitant, and people who are somewhere in the middle.

NAfME also says its guidance is “Grounded in the National Music Standards” and explores how AI can enhance creativity, support performance, deepen student reflection, and address the ethical responsibilities educators should consider when using AI in teaching.

In other words: this conversation is real, it is happening, and it is not going away.

What Kinds of Apps Could Creators Build?

Here’s the exciting part.

Once you understand the concept, you begin to realize how many different types of apps a creator could build.

A creator could build an app that:

• walks users through a curriculum step by step
• helps customers implement a signature framework
• answers common troubleshooting questions
• supports lesson planning or sequencing
• gives coaching around classroom management
• helps users adapt materials for different levels
• reinforces the creator’s philosophy and style
• provides encouragement and accountability
• offers fresh ideas to long-time users
• supports onboarding for first-time buyers

That’s exactly why I believe this is such a strong opportunity for teacher-authors and TpT sellers.

If you already have a body of work and a recognizable point of view, an app lets you turn that into a more interactive support experience.

Why I Chose Studio.com

What appealed to me about Studio.com is that it gave me a way to take what I know and turn it into something useful for teachers who have trusted me since 2013.  I went to a one-hour online session in July 2026 online, and I saw the amazing things that were possible with this technology, and I knew was all in.  

During the early years of my online presence, no company helped me succeed.  I tried to get music publishers to help me publish S-Cubed starting in 2009, and nobody bit.  When I found TPT in 2013, I knew I could do it on my own my way, and that is what I did.  I started popping lessons up on TPT week by week for two years.  And people loved it.  I've kept a lot of them here on my blog so my story is one that I get to tell.  Companies came to me once I was successful and wanted to find ways to share a piece of the pie, and I have collaborated with some, but for the most part, TPT is where I've done the most work.

My experience creating the S-Cubed AI Coach with Studio.com was super simple, and it showed me that this technology can do amazing things when it is centered around real expertise and a real desire to help people.

It allowed me to create something that feels aligned with my mission:

to help teachers succeed.

And for creators, that’s the key question:

What do people come to you for that could be turned into an experience they can access anytime?

That question can open a lot of doors.

If you want to explore how Studio.com works and think through what your own app might become, you can use my affiliate link here:

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

A Word to Creators Who Are Still Unsure

If you are reading this and thinking, I’m not techy enough for that, or I’m not sure anyone would want an app from me, let me say this:

If you have built trust…

If you have helped people…

If you have created something that solves real problems…

If you have developed a way of thinking that others find valuable…

…then you may be far more ready than you think.

The app is not the magic.

Your expertise is the magic.

The app is simply a way to package that expertise so that it can serve people more effectively and, yes, potentially more profitably too.  The staff at Studio.com guided all of us through every single step.  They were always accessible via email.  I finished my app 3 weeks early because of it.  The official launch isn't until October 6, 2026, but mine is already on the market, and I've already made sales.  

Final Thoughts

I created my S-Cubed AI Coaching app because I saw a genuine need.

Teachers needed more support.

They needed guidance.

They needed help applying my work in real situations.

And I realized that the kind of support I had been giving one person at a time could become something more scalable, more accessible, and more useful.

If you’re a creator with a curriculum, a teaching method, a coaching style, or a body of knowledge people rely on, I encourage you to think about what this could look like for you.

There is room to approach AI responsibly.

There is room to honor the concerns people have.

And there is also room to build something innovative, helpful, and financially meaningful.

If that possibility speaks to you, you can learn more here:

https://studio.com/join/daleduncanscubedcoach

Before You Pay: A Look Inside the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program AI Coach

If you’ve heard about my new S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners AI Coach but you’ve been hesitant to click the link because you aren’t quite sure what happens next, I made something specifically for you.

I recorded a short, approximately five-minute video showing you exactly what happens before you ever reach the payment screen.  Here is the link to the video on my YouTube Channel

No mystery. No surprises.

If you’re a visual person, watch the video. I walk you through the onboarding process screen by screen so you can see what you’re being asked, why you’re being asked, and when the payment screen appears.

And if you’d rather read about it first, I’ll explain it here.

What Happens During Onboarding?

Before the S-Cubed AI Coach starts coaching you, it needs some context about your teaching situation.

You are simply giving your coach context so it can personalize your experience, and giving your context is critical even before you pay if you decide to use it.  

For example, it may ask what grade levels you teach, how often you see your students, where you currently are in the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners, and whether concerts or other interruptions are coming up.

Why?

Because a teacher who sees students every day has a completely different timeline from a teacher who sees them twice a week.

A teacher starting S-Cubed Lesson 1 has different needs from somebody who made it to Lesson 6 last year, got overwhelmed, and stopped.

And somebody with a concert three weeks from now needs different pacing advice from somebody whose calendar is wide open.

The coach uses the information you provide to help determine a realistic path through the program.

Right now, the AI Coach covers Lessons 1 through 10 of the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners.

I am absolutely willing to continue developing it through all 27 lessons — and potentially into S-Cubed Level 2 — if teachers want it.

Demand will help determine where I take it next.

This Is Not Another Curriculum

This is important.

The AI Coach does not replace the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners.

It helps you use the curriculum successfully.

That distinction matters to me.

When I created S-Cubed beginning in 2013, I tried to explain every detail I could possibly think of. I made teaching videos. I created PowerPoints. I recorded teaching tips. I answered emails, and I still do. I showed teachers what had worked in my own classroom.

And yet, over the last 13 years, I’ve still heard from some teachers who struggled even though I tried to dot every "i" and cross every "t".  

Sometimes their pacing was slow.

Sometimes they got overwhelmed.

Sometimes a concert interrupted everything, and they never restarted.  

Sometimes classroom management problems took over.

Sometimes Lesson 6 hit and everything seemed to fall apart.

Sometimes teachers simply looked too far ahead.

That last one is especially important.

S-Cubed was always intended to be taken one day at a time.

Do today’s work.

See what happens.

Adjust tomorrow.

That is exactly what this coach helps you do.

Tell It What Actually Happened in Your Classroom

This may be the most important thing I learned while testing the coach with teachers.

Give it information.

If something went wrong today, tell it.

If the lesson went beautifully, tell it.

If your students weren’t focused, tell it.

If the Forbidden Pattern didn’t work the way you expected, tell it.

If you had a classroom management problem, describe what happened.

If you’re struggling with pacing, say so.

The more useful context you provide about what actually happened in your classroom, the more useful your coaching can become.

The coach can then bring you back to the philosophies and approaches I built into the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners and help you think through what I might suggest doing differently tomorrow.

That’s the part that excites me.

For years, teachers have emailed me questions like these, and I’ve personally answered them.

Now you can have that support available when you need it every single day.  I want it to feel like I am your personal coach for success with teaching S-Cubed.  

You Can Even Use Video

Another possibility I think is incredibly exciting.

If you choose to, you can upload video of your teaching and use it to get feedback.

Point the camera toward yourself.

Teach.

Then use that information to reflect on what happened.

For teachers who really want to dig into their practice, I think the possibilities are enormous.

This isn’t about somebody judging your teaching.

It’s about helping you notice things, ask better questions, and think about how the philosophies behind S-Cubed are actually showing up in your classroom.

Who Is the S-Cubed AI Coach For?

I designed this with several different teachers in mind:

• The first-time S-Cubed teacher who wants somebody walking beside them from the beginning.

• The teacher who started S-Cubed but got stuck, overwhelmed, interrupted by concerts, or lost somewhere along the way.

• The longtime S-Cubed teacher who knows the program but feels like their approach has become stale and wants fresh ideas.

That last group matters to me personally.

If I walked back into a middle school chorus classroom tomorrow and taught everything exactly as I taught it years ago, some of my own approaches would probably feel stale to me too.

Good teachers evolve.

The underlying principles can remain strong while the way we deliver them continues to grow.

That philosophy is built into this coach.

What Does the S-Cubed AI Coach Cost?

There are currently two ways to subscribe as of September 21, 2026.

The annual option is $249 for one year, which works out to less than 70 cents per day for access to daily coaching.

There is also a shorter option currently priced at $89 for four months, which works out to less than $1 per day.

And I want this to be completely clear:

You will know when you reach the payment screen.

You can go through the onboarding process and see how everything works before making that decision.

There is also a seven-day cancellation/refund period, so you have an opportunity to get inside, experience the coach, and decide whether it is useful for you without any risk of losing money.  I know how hard teachers work to earn their money.  

I Know Teachers Are Spending Their Own Money

I spent 30 years teaching public school.

I know exactly what teachers do.

We buy things.

We buy music.

We buy materials.

We buy classroom supplies.

We spend our own money because we want something that will help our students.

But I also want teachers to continue asking schools and districts to support these purchases.

The S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners is curriculum, and this AI Coach is designed to help teachers successfully implement curriculum they have purchased.

There is a legitimate argument for schools, departments, booster organizations, and other approved funding sources to help support that professional resource.

When I was teaching, I also found ways to generate money for my chorus program that did not necessarily require me to personally fund everything.

At the beginning of the year, I sometimes did a very simple no-frills fundraiser. Some parents were extraordinarily busy and couldn't volunteer their time, but they were happy to make a contribution to the chorus program instead.

Those checks went into the official chorus account that was overseen through my school secretary. The money wasn't mine. It belonged to the program and was handled through the proper school procedures.

I also raised money through our annual musical. Rather than charging traditional admission, we encouraged contributions. Some parents gave the suggested amount. Others gave more.

That money helped fund things our students needed, including expenses such as choreography and staging.

Every school and district has different rules, so teachers should absolutely follow their local policies. But don't automatically assume that your personal checking account is the only possible way to pay for professional tools that support your students.

Ask.

Explore the legitimate funding options available to your program.

And Yes, There Is Still a Human Being Behind This

That human being is me.

Dale Duncan.

I created the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners largely on my own beginning in 2013 after traditional publishers weren't interested in what I had created.

For more than 13 years, I've answered teacher emails myself, and I still will.  

I've made the videos.

I've written the lessons.

I've created the teaching tips.

I've listened when teachers struggled.

And I built this AI Coach around those years of experience and around my philosophy for teaching beginning sight singing successfully.  

My teaching philosophy is captured in this app.  

When you subscribe, there is a personal welcome message from me inside the experience.

I also explain exactly what to do if you encounter something in the AI Coach that you believe needs to be corrected.

Email me.

I even tell you what to put in the subject line so I know exactly why you're writing.

Because if you purchase this, you're trusting me.

I don't take that lightly.

And if you'd like to be added to my email list, you can contact me and simply tell me that you found me through Studio.com, the S-Cubed AI Coach, or this article.

Watch the Five-Minute Walkthrough Before You Decide

You don't have to wonder what happens when you click.

I've shown you.

Watch the short onboarding video and see exactly how the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners AI Coach by Dale Duncan works before the payment screen appears.

Then decide for yourself whether this kind of day-by-day coaching would help you.

My goal with S-Cubed has always been the same:

Help teachers.  That's why 90% of my work online is free, from blog posts to videos.

In 2013, technology finally gave me a way to share the sight-singing system that had worked in my classroom.

In 2026, technology is giving me a new way to help teachers actually implement it.

One day at a time.

Just like I always intended.

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?

The S-Cubed Sight Singing Program Coach is here

In 2013, almost nobody knew who I was.

I had created this strange little sight-singing system in my own middle school classroom. Publishers weren’t interested, so I decided to figure out another way to get it into teachers’ hands.

I recorded myself teaching directly to a camera.

I uploaded videos to YouTube.

I put links inside PowerPoints. I wrote out lesson plans. I tried to anticipate every question a teacher might have because I wanted someone hundreds or thousands of miles away to feel like I was standing beside them saying:

“Here’s what I would do next.”

And I was scared to death when I put Lesson 1 out there.

Would teachers think it was awesome?

Would they think it was awful?

Would anybody even care?

That picture is from the very beginning.

It was the first day in August 2013 when I recorded teaching tips for Lesson One, Forbidden Pattern.

I went home that night, uploaded the video to YouTube, got the link, popped it into the PowerPoint, uploaded the lesson to Teachers Pay Teachers...

...and held my breath.

Different Tools. Same Mission.

Those early PowerPoints weren't particularly pretty. Some of them still aren't!

But they're part of the story of S-Cubed.

I didn't invent YouTube.

I didn't invent Facebook, Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, or any of the technologies that eventually helped S-Cubed find its way into classrooms.

And I certainly didn't invent AI.

But throughout this entire journey, I've been willing to look at a new tool and ask one question:

Can this help a teacher?

Thirteen years later, that question has brought me somewhere I didn't expect.

I've built an AI Coach specifically around S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners.

And I want to tell you why.

Why an AI Coach?

I know educators have serious reservations about AI.

I respect that.

Over the past two months as I've been building this Coach, I've been reading conversations on social media, participating in some of them, listening to teachers, and thinking carefully about where I believe this technology belongs — and where it doesn't.

This is not AI replacing music teachers.

It isn't composing music for students.

It isn't taking the human being out of music education.

The human being standing in front of those students is still the most important part of the equation.

But here's something I've learned after supporting teachers using S-Cubed since 2013:

Sometimes a lesson plan and some videos aren't enough.

Maybe Lesson 6 is falling apart.

"Dale, why can't I get them to sing out confidently during Chaos? What am I doing wrong?"

Maybe you're brand new to S-Cubed, and changing your classroom routines feels overwhelming.

Maybe you've taught S-Cubed for years and need some fresh ideas.

Maybe you're dealing with a pacing or classroom-management problem that I couldn't possibly have anticipated when I wrote the original lessons.

Those are the kinds of questions teachers have been emailing me for years.

That's why I built the Coach.

What I Want the S-Cubed AI Coach to Do

I want you to be able to tell the Coach what's happening in your classroom and get help applying S-Cubed to your situation.

Because S-Cubed has never just been a method.

It is part method and part philosophy.

And at the center of that philosophy is something I've said for years:

3/4 Learning + 1/4 Cup Fun = SUCCESS!

S-Cubed stands for Successful Sight Singing, but I've always wanted that success to belong to two groups of people:

The students AND the teacher.

That's what I'm trying to teach this Coach to understand.

You Can Try the S-Cubed AI Coach Yourself

I've initially built the Coach around Lessons 1–10 of S-Cubed.

And you don't have to buy anything just to see what I've created.

MEET YOUR S-CUBED AI COACH FREE

Think of the onboarding process as introducing yourself to your S-Cubed Coach.

Tell it about your classroom.

Tell it what grade you teach.

Tell it where you are in S-Cubed.

Tell it what's working.

Tell it what's not working.

You can even tell it what makes you nervous about beginning the program.

Then test it.

Try telling it:

"I'm brand new to S-Cubed."

Or:

"I've started S-Cubed several times but have never gotten past Lesson 4."

Ask it a real question you've had about the program.

See what it already knows.

I Put It to the Test Myself

Lesson 6 — CHAOS — has been one of the biggest challenges I've heard about from teachers over the years.

So I decided to test the Coach myself.

I gave it the kinds of problems teachers have brought to me about Lesson 6 and recorded what happened.

Don't take my word for it.

Watch it respond.

WATCH ME TEST THE S-CUBED AI COACH: LESSON 6 — CHAOS

See It Tested Live on October 6

On October 6 from 7:00–8:00 PM Eastern, I'm going to reveal the S-Cubed AI Coach live on Zoom.

I'm going to show you what I've built, how it works, and what I believe it can do for teachers.

And I want your questions.

I especially want the questions from people who aren't sure about AI yet.

Come see it. Test the idea. Ask me what you're wondering.

I'M GOING / I'M INTERESTED

Facebook will remind you as we get closer, and I'll share more in the event before the Zoom.

You Don't Have to Wait Until October 6

A few teachers have already decided to jump in early.

If you know my work, trust what I've built over the last 13 years, and you're ready to start using the Coach now, I've created a 10% early-access discount.

START USING THE S-CUBED AI COACH + SAVE 10%

The annual subscription works out to less than 70¢ per day for a Coach designed to help you through those critical first ten lessons.

But here's what matters more to me than the price.

I Don't Want Teachers Dependent on AI

The goal isn't to make you dependent on AI.

The goal is to make you more confident teaching S-Cubed.

That's what I was trying to accomplish when I sat in front of a camera and made those first teaching videos in 2013.

And that's what I'm trying to accomplish now.

Different tools. Same mission.

Thirteen years ago, I sat in front of an iPhone 4 camera, recorded a teaching video, uploaded it to YouTube, put the link into a PowerPoint, uploaded the lesson to Teachers Pay Teachers...

...and held my breath.

I'm doing a little bit of that again.

The difference is that back then, almost nobody knew me.

Today, some of the teachers reading this have trusted my work for more than a decade.

That makes this moment mean even more to me — not less.

I know AI brings questions.

Some teachers are excited about it.

Some are skeptical.

Some aren't sure what to think yet.

I understand all three.

But the question I'm asking myself is really the same question I was asking back in 2013:

Can I use the technology available to me to help a teacher standing in front of beginning singers tomorrow morning?

I believe I can.

And I believe this Coach can help me do it.

Whether you're excited, skeptical, curious, or somewhere in between, I hope you'll come see what I've built.

Different tools. Same mission.

My friend- David Stauffer- who was reading my manuscripts back in 2009 when I was starting this journey has been testing it for me-

Same pixellation I'm known for- the realness.  And so is this app.  It's going to help a lot of teachers.  

— Dale Duncan
Creator, S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners

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A Note for My Fellow Curriculum Creators

If you've been watching what I'm doing and wondering whether you could build something similar around your own curriculum or expertise, I partnered with Studio to create mine.

EXPLORE CREATING YOUR OWN STUDIO APP