Today we’d like to introduce you to Dale Duncan.
Hi Dale, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
First of all, I am a music educator. I am in my 30th year teaching public school. I created a sight singing curriculum (teaching students how to read music in the group setting) back in 2007. I shared bits of it with my Dekalb County Schools music colleagues. I really wanted to write a book sharing the ideas, so in 2009, I did that. I shared it with music education publishers, but no one wanted to publish it. I found Teachers Pay Teachers in 2012, and by 2014, I was offering my full curriculum on their site. Teachers from all over the world found it and have used it successfully. The program has been peer-reviewed by more than 700 teachers on the site, and it is now sold on several other music education platforms.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No. Getting turned down by the music publishers was hard. Then, once I found TpT, I knew I could figure it out, but it wasn’t easy. I met numerous technology challenges and had to solve each one on my own. I decided to keep my business a “one man show” at that time. Since then, I have employed others, but I was cheap and wanted to get maximum profits. I was working full time at my teaching job and then coming home and working on my curriculum uploading, refining the product, answering messages from users, and publicizing it on social media. I’ve never worked so hard in my life.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
People in the music education world see me as specializing in pedagogy (teaching of sight singing), and I am certainly grateful for that. Their support of my curriculum has changed my life and has helped students all over the world who are beginners at reading music.
I am proudest of the fact that I finally found a way to get my curriculum into the hands of teachers and school districts. It took a really long time, and it surpassed anything I could have imagined in terms of its impact on choral music classrooms.
There are tons of sight singing curriculum options for music teachers, but what sets my curriculum apart is that it is part philosophy and part curriculum. My motto is 3/4 learning+1/4 fun=SUCCESS. My program includes gaming and competition that inspires the students to dig deeper than they often do in order to be successful. I am a former national champion in aerobic gymnastics, and I am currently an international judge for the sport. I think my background in that sport helps me to think methodically. We have to master one skill before moving on to the next, more difficult skill, for example. The building blocks in my program, the S-Cubed Sight Singing Program for Beginners, are set up in a similar fashion.
The other thing about my curriculum that is different from any other is that it isn’t a book. I set it up in a series of PowerPoints. All of the lesson plans are there for the teachers, but in addition, I videotaped myself actually TEACHING each lesson so that teachers could watch it if they wanted. I set my iPhone up in the corner, and then uploaded everything onto my YouTube Channel. In addition, I took time to include video teaching tips for the teachers so I could help them avoid some pitfalls that could occur.
I want the teachers and the students to enjoy the process of learning this challenging subject.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
When I built this program, I specifically built it first and foremost for choral music educators in Georgia because I wanted them to have the tools they needed to help their students succeed at things like Allstate Chorus, or at our annual Georgia Music Educator’s Large Group Performance Evaluation event. I watched so many teachers walk out of the sight singing room completed devastated because their students didn’t have the tools they needed to succeed. It’s REALLY hard to do well. They expect the students to figure how to sing a song they’ve never seen before within 5 minutes without any help from a piano or the teacher. When I was in middle school, I definitely could not do that.
Music Teachers in Georgia (and beyond) can support me by sharing the word of S-Cubed Sight Singing Program with other music teachers. Band Teachers who have been placed against their will into a chorus classroom have used the program too. I think it works for them because it is a guide. All you do is follow it step by step.
Pricing:
- $369 for MEGA Bundle of S-Cubed Sight Singing Program Levels 1 and 2
- $269 for Level ONE of S-Cubed Sight Singing Program
- Individual lessons from the program are available for as little as $15
- Music Prodigy Supplemental Practice Examples are available for $399. All students get an annual license.
Contact Info:
- Email: inthemiddlewithmrd@gmail.com
- Website: https://inthemiddlewithmrd1.blogspot.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inthemiddlewithmrdmusiced/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InTheMiddleWithMrDBlog/?ref=pages_you_manage
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/inthemiddlewith
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuSvE1y-FTytuFfndvTVUtQ
