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. 

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 individual computerized 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 utilizing SmartMusic in and outside 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 decide 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.

The post How Can I Use SmartMusic with S-Cubed Sight Singing Program? appeared first on SmartMusic.

In this SmartMusic Spotlight, we spoke with Dale Duncan to learn more about his background as an educator, the inspiration behind S-Cubed, and how teachers can utilize SmartMusic’s practice tools to enhance the curriculum.

What is your background in voice and education?  

I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education. I sang on cruise ships for a while, and then I started my teaching career in Greensboro, NC at Allen Middle School where I student-taught. Those students taught me more than I taught them. I was terrible at classroom management, and they worked me over! I wasn’t sure I’d make it as a teacher. I almost quit several times. Something clicked in year 4, and I decided I either had to figure it out or get out, and I chose the latter. 

I took sick days to go watch top teachers, and I began to improve. I taught for six years in New Jersey, and then came to GA where I’ve taught since at Henderson Middle School. I love teaching musical theater to my students in addition to choral music.

What made you decide to create the S-Cubed Sight Singing curriculum?

One day, after I asked the students to pull out their sight singing books, I heard a child moan with dread. I knew I wasn’t making this fun. They didn’t feel successful. They would get halfway through an example and fall apart. Everyone would stop singing. So, I made a pact with myself that I would figure it out, and I began working towards it. I tried almost every sight singing method on the market, but they all started with the keys of C, G and F, and my kids didn’t want to sing the keys of G and F. They were too embarrassed. It was too high. I teach total beginners. I’ve never had a Mozart…not yet! …In 29 years! Still waiting…. So, I knew I had to do something completely different. I wanted to use movable “do,” but I created a variation on that theme called “varied but movable ‘do.’”   

I wanted the learning not to feel like learning. I needed it to be fun for ME too! So, I added elements of competition between me and them and between them and the other classes. I wanted something that was part method and part philosophy. I wanted something that didn’t move too fast. For most of us who are musicians and music teachers, the language of music feels so simple. But, for the true beginner, looking at all of those dots and curves and symbols is scary. It would be like reading Arabic for most Americans.

So, I proceeded to create something that was carefully methodical and fun at the same time. I am a former gymnast, so for me it was important that I gave the students and the teachers who teach S-Cubed the tools they need to succeed one step at a time. We don’t move to the next step until we have mastered the previous step, and with the way I’ve built it, mastery is easy for most who follow what I’ve put into the program. I tried to share every secret I have learned about how to teach this subject to the true beginner.

How did you develop the full curriculum, keeping in mind students with different learning styles and ability levels?

I made sure to use every modality-kinesthetic (hand signs), aural (ear-training, for example), visual (taking the time to carefully teach them to see things they might otherwise miss). I wanted to reach every single singer regardless of their learning modalities and learning challenges because I teach every type of student in my own classroom. I don’t audition my singers. This program is not for the teacher who auditions and screens their students and whose students take lessons from private teachers. This program is for the teacher who has little-to-no say which students come into their classrooms. It’s intended to engage even the most challenging learner. The teacher has to be willing to use their personality! The students will love it when you let go and have some fun. I have included links in my program of me actually teaching the program to my students so that teachers can see how I deliver it. You don’t have to copy me—you should find your way that fits your personality. The students love it when we are ourselves. It endears them to us and creates a bond that inspires them to want to do their best for us and for themselves. 

What problem does the program solve for teachers (for both in-person and remote settings), and how does it set students up for success?

Basically, S-Cubed solves the “how” of teaching sight singing to the true beginner. I’ve built a scaffolding for you…In fact, I’ve built the whole building, but you can modify as you like and tear out what doesn’t work for you. If you just go in with an open mind and follow the program the way it is laid out, you are going to get results. 5-10 minutes per day 3-5 times per week will make the biggest difference for you. You have to be consistent whether you follow S-Cubed or some other sight singing program. 

This program is like no other because not only does it provide the curriculum and lessons, but I’ve included video teaching tips for every single lesson for the teacher, and I’ve included links to me teaching the program to the students myself. This is the modern day way to deliver curriculum to teachers.

The Distance Version is a modification of S-Cubed that we created this summer in response to the COVID pandemic. Mario Contreras, a longtime S-Cubed user who knows the program inside and out, is your teacher guide. It is awesome for use in asynchronous learning. You can easily load the lessons into Google Classroom or make EdPuzzles with the material using Screencastify or similar programs. 

How can teachers utilize the practice tools within SmartMusic to enhance the S-Cubed Sight Singing curriculum? 

I created one-to-one practice examples so that if a teacher wanted to do so, they could sight sing Lesson 4 on Day 1 in class as a group and then send the students home that night to do the correlating example on SmartMusic for a grade/feedback. Every sight singing example in Level One of S-Cubed has a correlating sight singing example in SmartMusic. With the current distance learning situation so many of us face, these practice/assessment examples will be more valuable than ever for teachers who use S-Cubed. I am relying on my practice/assessment examples more than I ever have done so since I created these additional exercises to supplement the program 7 years ago. 

Can you share some teacher and student success stories?

Since 2013, I’ve tried to be diligent in posting success stories of teachers going to their adjudications and getting straight Superior’s in sight singing after getting very low scores in previous years. I love hearing from experienced teachers who tell me how S-Cubed has transformed their teaching and from band teachers who were thrown into the choral music classroom. Ironically, that seemed to happen a LOT in the first few years I made the program available. I hope more band teachers who end up in the chorus program find it! I love hearing from first year teachers who are so grateful I’ve written 10-15 minutes of their lesson plans each day for a couple of years. I created the program for middle school teachers, but I’ve gotten emails and messages from high school teachers who teach beginners and upper elementary teachers who are preparing their students for middle school. It’s really been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life that this program has helped so many teachers. I swore to myself back in the first year of teaching that if I ever figured this out (how to teach middle school), I was going to help other teachers, and this has been a part of how I am doing that. I still think there is way more in me than just this…we will see!

Here is the link to the section of my blog with all of the specific reviews and success stories since I began offering the program.

Also, my program has been reviewed by over 600 teachers from all over the world on TeachersPayTeachers. 

The post SmartMusic Spotlight: S-Cubed Sight Singing Program’s Dale Duncan appeared first on SmartMusic.

The challenge is in getting any student (not just instrumental students) excited about sight singing.

The Sight Singing Problem – in Any Music Classroom

Armed with a master’s degree in music and a wonderful student teaching experience, I brought lots of excitement into the classroom at the beginning my teaching career. I’ll never forget the incredible dark cloud that seemed to descend over my classroom when I would ask students to pull out their sight-singing books. I can still hear the moans and sighs like it was yesterday.

Sight singing was a chore.

What was the problem? I had purchased the best sight-singing books! Shouldn’t that do the trick? Apparently not! I was completely unable to get my 300 inexperienced middle school students to be successful at sight singing and, most importantly, to enjoy the process of learning it.

Over time, I determined many reasons for my lack of success at teaching this important skill and none of those reasons had anything to do with their intellectual abilities or the types of students I was teaching. It had to do with me. I simply didn’t know how to instill the skill sets required for them to successfully sight sing, and I didn’t respect how incredibly difficult this skill is for this special age group.

Out of Touch

After six years of being immersed in academia and surrounded by highly-trained musicians (most of whom had never taught middle school) I had lost touch with some really important ideas:

1. Reading music is very similar to learning a foreign language.
2. More than 95% of my students had no private instrument or voice lessons in their background. So, whatever they learned about sight singing was going to have to come from me. I couldn’t rely on having Peggy Piano on the back row (who had taken piano lessons for 9 of her 11 years) to lead everyone into the promised land.
3. Success AND fun are the magic potion for this age group.

I had to figure out how to instill the skills into my students in a fun way. So, over time, I developed a four-part philosophy of teaching students to sight sing.

My New Philosophy, Part 1: It Can’t Feel Like Work

I felt sure that the Kodaly hand signs would help my students improve, but they didn’t seem to like using the signs. I soon realized that this age group loves to compete against the teacher! So, I made up a game that I called “Forbidden Pattern” where the students played against me.

Basic procedures of the game

• Everyone must use the Kodaly hand signs while they sing.
• I sing and sign a three-note forbidden pattern followed by a rest, and they immediately have to sing and sign it back to me. I announce that this is the forbidden pattern of the day. I tell them they aren’t allowed to sing it anymore during the game, but that they have to sing and sign everything else that I sing and sign.
• The game begins. I sing a different three-note pattern and they echo it back to me. This goes on until I randomly sing the forbidden pattern of that day.
• Each day, there is a different forbidden pattern that the students aren’t allowed to sing.
• If one (or more) student sings the forbidden pattern, I get a point. If no one sings the pattern, they get a point. Students get so absorbed in the game that they forget not to sing the pattern. It is an awesome focus exercise with which you can have lots of fun!
• Whoever scores 3 points first wins the game. I keep score daily. I make the score public to all of my classes so they will begin a friendly competition with the other classes in addition to competing with me.

Classroom management guidelines for the game

They are likely to get very excited during the game, and that is a good thing. However, you need some rules in place to keep the game fun and manageable!

• They aren’t allowed to warn each other that the forbidden pattern has been sung by the teacher. You should only award the students a point if they’ve been absolutely silent and still when you sing the forbidden pattern.
• Have fun with the game! Use what I call the distraction technique. In the middle of the game, talk about your cat or what you did over the weekend. Then, sing and sign the forbidden pattern. Soon, they will realize what you are up to. It helps them focus even more because they think you are being sneaky (and you are) because you want to win! The possibilities are endless, and the relationship you will build with them when you let loose with playful competitiveness in this way will help you bond with your students as you teach them.

My New Philosophy, Part 2: Set them up for Success

If we were teaching our students how to build a house, we wouldn’t simply take them into a room full of tools and say “Go!”  We must teach our students how to use the “tools in their toolbox” by introducing one tool at a time and allowing them to perfect the use of that tool before moving to the next tool.

Here are a couple of tools that I use that have helped my students:

Chaos

“Chaos” is the word I use to describe a one to two-minute independent practice period. I give a sight-singing example and establish tonality by singing the scale and arpeggio in the key of the exercise. During chaos, each child must place themself into a bubble world and block out the other singers while singing and signing the example out loud – at their own pace. They must do so for the entire one to two-minute period.

When I teach this concept, I compare the resulting sound with how an orchestra sounds warming up before a concert.

Once you stop the chaos session, re-establish tonality and then have them sing the example as a choir. Emphasize the importance of holding onto “DO” during chaos. If you hear them wander from “DO” when they are first using chaos as a tool, stop and ask them to sing “DO.” This will give you a chance to drive home the importance of never losing “DO.” I always tell them that it is like knowing where you live! You should always be able to recite your home address. It is critical that students sing out loud during chaos, and that they are encouraged to work at their own pace.

Accenting

I teach rhythm separately from pitch at first. We must help students to feel and experience the importance of beat one or the downbeat. Helping them to physically feel it by doing body percussion exercises is a great tool.

Also, using the Kodaly “TA” system works well. I have my students over-emphasize beat “1” with their voices when they “TA”, and “rev” their voices like a car engine while singing half notes, dotted half notes and whole notes to keep the beat steady as they perform rhythm exercises. Instilling strong accenting skills helps greatly as they learn to cope with different time signatures.

Hand-Pulsing

Once we combine pitch and rhythm in a real-sight singing exercise, we should only use quarter notes, and we should teach them to pulse their hands to the steady rhythm in addition to using the Kodaly hand signs. If we do this successfully, it will be much easier for our students when they encounter their first half note or dotted half note in the middle of a sight-singing exercise.

Dealing with varied note values in the middle of an exercise is a challenging feat of incredible coordination for beginners and must be taught deliberately and carefully and practiced daily. In the early days of teaching sight singing, I failed to recognize how hard it is for them to combine singing accurate pitch and rhythm at the same time.

Now SmartMusic can create an infinite supply of sight-reading exercises, and you can try it for free!

My New Philosophy, Part 3: Be Consistent

Sight singing is not easy. It requires so many skill sets that trained musicians often take for granted. The dots on the page are filled with information that their brains have no idea how to interpret until we carefully show them. Ten minutes per day – every day – will go a long way. It will give us the time to teach our students what the tools in their toolbox are and how to use them.

Successfully identifying the symbols on a matching quiz isn’t enough. They have to use the symbols and interpret them each and every day with simple, progressive sight singing examples that are appropriate for their age. Like a new language, they must speak it often in order to improve their skills.

My New Philosophy, Part 4: Praise Them

We all know how important it is to praise our students when they get it right. With sight singing, it is even more important to acknowledge every single small success…especially with this age group. For example, when I see a student “pulsing” correctly, I call their name out and tell them “Great job on the pulsing!” Immediately, other students make sure they are pulsing, too.

I often compare sight singing to life. It will not always be perfect. Sometimes, you will sail right through. Other times, you are going to hit a huge obstacle and get knocked down. Do you just lie there? Or do you get up, dust yourself off and keep on going?

As their teacher, it is incredibly rewarding to help students on this important journey. It is our job to guide them toward music literacy. And when we take the time to teach them how to use the tools in their toolbox and share a little fun, laughter, and celebration along the way, we will have had a great time instilling a skill in our students that will last them a lifetime!

The post How Can I Get My Students to Sight Sing? appeared first on SmartMusic.