Music Linky Party! Big TPT Sale!

Tomorrow and Friday, TPT is having a big sale on all of their products! I am participating, and so are many of my music teacher colleagues at TPT. You can get up to 28% off! Thanks to my colleague Amy Abbott for hosting:

Wish List Wednesday with Amy Abbott!

I love the Kodaly method and Lindsay Jervis has great stuff using that method!

Kodaly Product from Lindsay Jervis

Aileen Miracle has a great freebie that helps teachers with program planning:

Aileen Miracle's free program planning check list

My entire middle school sight singing program will be on sale for the next two days.  It will be the most affordable time ever to buy all of the lessons at once.  You can start with:

Start your middle school singers off with Lesson 1-Forbidden Pattern!


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HUNT and FOCUS-Lesson 24 is ready! Sight Singing for Middle School-Filming the process

I started sharing my Sight Singing program with teachers last August. In the beginning, I called it my own little reality show because I had decided to videotape each days lessons to supplement the materials I include in the power point. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous about that prospect! I mean...I didn't even know the students who walked into my classroom on that first day and the video was running.

 ...But I so completely believe in the S-Cubed process, I felt confident that I (and they) would be successful. I've used it in my classroom for years now, and it works like a charm. I love teaching it, and they love conquering this very difficult skill!

So, here we are about 2 weeks from our adjudicated festival at which my 110 beginners will sit down and see if they can conquer the two-part sight singing example that is placed before them while an adjudicator watches the work we've done all year. It's exciting! ...and daunting....because I'll film that too! :-)

I decided to film it all because people learn in so many different ways. Some like to read material. Some like to "do" the material at a workshop. Some like to listen.  I wanted S-Cubed to presented in ALL of those ways and more.  I wanted to touch all of the learning modes because I want teachers to have the best chance possible at improving how they teach sight singing to this very special age group.

Our children are the same. They learn in so very many different ways. S-Cubed is designed to hit all of the learning modes so they have the best chance possible of learning how to sight sing to the best of their ability. These children were total beginners when they walked into my room in August 2013, and I am thrilled with their progress.  They don't all get it perfect 100% of the time, but they use every ounce of their brain power to try their best to make that happen.

Even though I have taught S-Cubed to thousands of beginners in my teaching career, I am still amazed when they put it all together and conquer a tough example. Then, as we continue to work together through eighth grade, I am even more amazed at the way all of the things they learned through S-Cubed transfer to their repertoire. It's truly awesome to send them off in a corner to figure something out on their own. ...And they will have the skills for a lifetime if they keep singing in choir in high school as most of my students do.

 HUNT and FOCUS is that last unison lesson. They have all of the tools in their toolbox now. It is up to them to figure out the hard intervals and difficult rhythms. They can totally do it. We need to guide less and less and encourage more and more. It's like when a baby is ready to walk. So, tomorrow, I will begin Lesson 25 with them, and they will sight sing in two parts! Finally! They will only get to do it for two weeks this year before they go to the adjudicated festival because we've missed two weeks of school due to snow. ...but I still think they will be fine...because we've taught the skills carefully and methodically...the S-Cubed way.   We used all of the learning modes. The techniques are in their little bodies. I hope it's working for you in your classroom!

Here is the link:  Link to Lesson 24 S-Cubed Successful Sight Singing for Middle School Teachers

 Have a great week!


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Link Directly to my Store on TPT

A little something for the music folks...so true!

This isn't even a question for me!  Teaching middle school children how to take symbols off of a page and translate that into sound that is well-produced, balanced and, most importantly, spiritually moving,  takes every single area of their little brains....and it's awesome when they do it.  


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Rafflecopter Updates on the the Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway Check out my blog!

Note to Followers of TPT with S-Cubed FREEBIE offer for Sight Singing

Thank you so much for following my store and for purchasing my products!  

First, I have a special FREE offer for my customers.

If you complete these tasks, shoot me an email, and I will send you one free lesson of S-Cubed of your choice:


a)  Please rate each of the products you've used with your students.  I greatly appreciate the feedback.  On TPT, the number and the content of the of ratings matters. One of my customers recently took the time to rate every single product she'd used, and I was most grateful!  Here is a link directly to the store:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Music-In-The-Middle-With-Mr-D
b)  Please +1 each product that you've used on Google Plus.  In the future, please do that for each product.  It is simple to do and it helps tremendously to spread the word about the products.  If you are using the YouTube Channel, you can +1 those as well.
If you aren't sure how to Google +1 something, click this link for info:
https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1047397?hl=en

c)  Please email me at dduncan158@gmail.com and let me know how you heard about my sight singing products.  Was it a magazine article?  A forum like Choralnet?  Was it through Pinterest?  Was it word of mouth?   Was it by searching on TPT for Sight Singing?  Did you find it at the top of the Arts search page on TPT while I promoted the product?  Did you hear about it at a convention?  A Webinar?   I want to spend my time in effective ways as I continue to work to get the word out about S-Cubed.  Having you share with me how you heard about my products will help me do that!  Thanks in advance!
d)  In that same email in which you share with me how you learned about S-Cubed, simply state, "I've completed the tasks from the Note to Followers".  Then, request one free lesson from S-Cubed, and I will email the freebie directly to you within 48 hours.

Angeliv...I owe you one already because you've done it!  Shoot me that email so I know where to send your freebie!

I greatly appreciate your help!  I've worked really hard on this TPT adventure.  I believe strongly in my Sight Singing products, and I think they can help teachers who struggle with teaching their young beginners this difficult skill.  Please spread the word to your peers about how S-Cubed is working for you!

Secondly:  

I am participating this week in a giveaway with other bloggers.
Check it out:
http://inthemiddlewithmrd1.blogspot.com/2014/02/gender-splits-in-choral-classroom-and.htmlThirdly...what is coming up?

We've missed a lot of school in Atlanta, and I am getting a little nervous about our upcoming adjudicated festival preparation.  For those of you who are following my YouTube channel and watching me prepare my own beginning students with their sight singing, you may notice several days of gaps in videos....well...those are the snow days!  Hopefully, my little beginners will be ready with their two part sight singing skills in time for the March 11th event!  We will all see the little reality show play out on YouTube!  :)  If you haven't subscribed, here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuSvE1y-FTytuFfndvTVUtQ

Barring anymore snow days, I expect to place somewhere between 4-8 more S-Cubed lessons up over the next month to help everyone get their students prepared with all of the skills they need to sight sing in 2 parts as promised when I began this journey last August!  

....and that will complete Series One of S-Cubed.  Once you've completed all of the approximately 30 lessons, your students will have awesome pitch-reading and rhythm-reading skills.  I expect to perhaps create a Series 2 for S-Cubed in the school year 2014-2015, but the truth is, Series 1 gets you through the most challenging difficulties for this age group regarding pitch/rhythm skills and will serve you in ways you couldn't have imagined in your repertoire learning, etc.  Once my own students have completed Series 1, I am able to send them off into a corner, give them "DO" and say "go".  They come back to me in 5-10 minutes with their parts worked out, and life is good!  
Using the skills in "real" music is the big payoff!  Then, you get to focus on dynamics, articulation, diction and vowels and so much more.

Thanks again for following my store and for using my products! Please take advantage of my FREEBIE offer listed above.  I am most grateful for your support!

The next time you hear from me, it will be SPRING!  YIPPEE!!

Have a great week!

Dale Duncan
Music in the Middle with Mr D


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Check out my fellow blogger's GIVEAWAY beginning Monday, February 17th!

It begins on Monday, February 17th!  I contributed to the giveaway by donating Lesson 1 of S-Cubed:  Successful Sight Singing for Middle School Teachers and their students.  The lesson includes the solfege game called Forbidden Pattern that is the basis of the "fun" of the S-Cubed system.
Have a great weekend!



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FIND/HOLD/DRILL Lesson 23 is ready for use! Sight Singing!

One of the major goals in S-Cubed is to develop independence in our Sight Singers.  We want our students not to need us...

Well, that may be stretching it a bit, but you get the idea!  :)

Our students have progressed so far now that they are encountering some difficult intervals that they absolutely can solve themselves!  ...But, we have to teach them how.  We have to take them through the process a few times before we can expect them to use any new tool on their own.  That is what this lesson is designed to do. 

It's just like life.  We don't tell our 15 year old to take the car and go out for a ride.  They might be able to do it, but we still have some things to show them so they can safely navigate this difficult task (besides the fact that it isn't legal....)  :)

After they perfect this skill, they are ready for successful 2-part sight singing!

I hope it is working for you in your classroom!  


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Link to Lesson 23 of S-Cubed!

S-Cubed! Sight Singing Lesson 22 is ready for use!


We only have a few weeks to go before we complete S-Cubed Series 1!  In just two weeks, my own students will be sight singing two part examples that include dotted-quarter/eighth note combinations and difficult skips.  Since August, they've gone from having no idea what the dots on the page of music mean to where they are now:  Literate.  Competent.  Self-Reliant.  Determined to beat the page!
That is what S-Cubed is about...with lots of fun and laughs along the way!  They learn so many lessons about not giving up and about doing their personal best.  In my own little reality show of sorts, I've been sharing the daily lessons on YouTube since early August!  
Check it all out!  


The process works, and it is all documented for other teachers to study and use so choral teachers can have the tools they need to improve how they deliver sight singing to their young beginners!  Teaching Sight Singing doesn't have to be drudgery!  :)

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My Sight Singing Article is in ACDA for ChorTeach

Sight Singing Article in ACDA ChorTeach

Working to share the Sight Singing materials with other teachers!  Grateful to ACDA for the opportunity!  Click the above link to read the article!

Please share!


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Top Teachers Feel Betrayed in Georgia

Top Teachers feel Betrayed in Georgia

Teachers are getting fired up in this state.  12 years of austerity cuts, salary cuts, furlough days, and failure of the state to pay National Board Certified Teachers as promised is causing as uproar in this election year.

...and it's about time.

If you haven't joined the Facebook group T.R.A.G.I.C, do it.  And spread the word.

T.R.A.G.I.C Facebook Group for Teachers

Have a great week!




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