Cell Phone Song
Music Therapy phone number song for special needs individuals.
Goal: Client will learn a caregiver’s cell phone number.
Domains: Academics, Math
This is my second telephone number song. Why? Because most adults these days have a home number and a cell number. A home number is definitely worth knowing, but a cell number may be of more use in an emergency – such as a child getting separated from their parent in a public place.
So why not use the same song for both phone numbers? This is problematic. Most people can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star without morphing into the ABC Song; lyrically these are very different songs – one about the alphabet and one about… astronomy? However, using the same song to memorize two distinct sets of digits is bound to end in a numerical nightmare. Imagine using a song you’ve previously heard (or maybe even sung) many, many times (such as Tommy Tutone’s 867-5309) to memorize a new phone number. When I try, it makes my brain hurt.
This Cell Phone Song makes use of the same concept of chunking that was utilized in the first Telephone Number Song. Rhythmically the targeted cell phone number is broken down into 3, 3, 2, and 2 digit chunks. To teach the number, it may be helpful to use backward chaining – the adult singing the first 8 digits and having the student sing the final chunk of 2 digits… then the last 2 chunks of 4 digits… then the last 3 chunks of 7 digits… until the entire sequence is mastered.
The song has 3 verses and 3 choruses (4 repetitions of the targeted phone number in each chorus) for a total of 12 opportunities to practice the phone number per song. Five versions of the song are contained in the download. 1. A sample version with the Archtop Music Therapy phone number. (Of course the client’s actual targeted phone number will differ and can either be sung live or [with a little effort] the mp3 can be altered in GarageBand with the addition of your own vocal track.) 2. A version with verses about Mom. 3. A version with verses about Dad. 4. A version called “melody” that has no sung verses, but retains the marimba melodic cue in the choruses. (This can be used if the caregiver is someone other than Mom or Dad or if you wish for the student to sing the verses.) 5. And instrumental, which has no singing and no marimba melody. This may be preferred for cell phone numbers that have 2-syllable digits se-ven or ze-ro, that could work better with an altered melodic rhythm.
Download includes:
- Cell Phone Song (Mom) [mp3 audio file]
- Cell Phone Song (Dad) [mp3 audio file]
- Cell Phone Song (melody) [mp3 audio file]
- Cell Phone Song (instrumental) [mp3 audio file]
- Cell Phone Song (sample) [mp3 audio file]
- Cell Phone Song – Lyrics [PDF]
- Cell Phone Song – Lyrics & Chords [PDF]
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