Creative Music Room’s Rhythmic Tales™ are short, read-aloud stories that bring music concepts to life through entertaining storytelling and original characters. Students learn rhythm, melody, tempo, and expression while also exploring classroom values like kindness, perseverance, and teamwork.
Each tale features a cast of beloved CMR characters (like Moto Monkey, Basie Beaver, and Tuba Turtle), all named after musical figures or terms. These characters quickly become part of your classroom family.
Designed for busy elementary music teachers, Rhythmic Tales™ are low-prep, story-based music lessons that blend concept learning with classroom connection.
What are Rhythmic Tales™?
Rhythmic Tales™ are printable music stories created to help K–5 students explore key musical concepts through engaging characters and imaginative narratives. Each story is designed to be read aloud and includes songs or singing patterns, movement, and printable characters to glue on popsicle sticks.
What do they teach?
Rhythmic Tales teach:
- Rhythm, melody, tempo, dynamics, solfege
- Listening and expressive performance
- Social-emotional skills: kindness, teamwork, courage
How Can I Use These Music Stories in My Classroom?
Use Rhythmic Tales:
- As a full class story lesson
- To introduce or review music concepts
- To help students build connection and community
Rhythmic Tales-Musical Stories
This shorter, preschool-friendly version of Cha Cha’s story is perfect for introducing young learners to the solfege scale.
This is a sweet musical tale about friendship and the importance of working together. It is designed for 12 or more students.
"Choo Choo Charlie" is a rhyming tale that teaches whole notes (ta-a-a-a), eighth notes (ti-ti), a quarter note (ta), and sixteenth notes (ti-ri-ti-ri).
Cadence Caterpillar is lonely until she finds friendship with Tuba Turtle. This rhythmic tale highlights the power of kindness and new beginnings.
"The Lost Drummer" is a short, sweet story that invites the students to echo the rhythms using hand drums, rhythm sticks or even just by clapping their hands. This is a great story to use right after your hello/welcome song.
Louie Lion loses his roar, and with the help of his jungle friends, he embarks on a rhythmic adventure to restore it, proving the power of friendship.
A game of hide and seek has gone awry. Allegro Alligator is enjoying a relaxing afternoon when Moto Monkey interrupts her with news of a "friend emergency".
Grace Giraffe had a problem. She was about to sing in a concert in one hour...and she had a frog in her throat!
It was the middle of the night. Coda Cow had had a looooong day, and she was excited for a good night’s sleep. The thing was, every time she closed her eyes, she got interrupted by the animals around her.
Why Join Creative Music Room?
When you join Creative Music Room you will have instant access to our entire collection of teaching resources including lesson plans, original songs, interactive games, Rhythmic Tales™, Sub Plans, “How To Teach” techniques and more!
Our site is packed with over 400 innovative and original resources – and more are added every month! So, dive in and discover how CMR can help you ignite a passion for music and make learning an unforgettable experience!
Whether you are new to teaching or you’re a veteran teacher looking for a little inspiration, I promise you will find what you are looking for right here at Creative Music Room.
