Rhythm Menagerie® PDF Book
- Level: Early elementary to intermediate
- Concepts covered: quarters notes, half notes, whole notes, rests and ties, eighth notes, eighth rests, dotted quarters
- Format: 93 reproducible PDF pages. Instant PDF download.
- Each unit contains: 1 introductory page, 3 levels of one line rhythms, 3 levels of 2-hand rhythms, and 3 Fun With Sounds pages. 9 units in all.
Rhythm Menagerie® Streaming Tracks
- Level: Early elementary to early intermediate
- Format: Web access to 865 music tracks
- Access: From any device using a browser
- Features: 3 tempos per line, A full 2 measure click track to prepare
- Style: Original composed music. A different style for every page. Fun animal sounds on the Fun with Sounds pages
Rhythm Manipulations® PDF Book
- Level: Early intermediate to advancing
- Concepts covered: cut time, compound meter, triplets, sixteenths, sixteenths expanded, dotted eighths, polyrhythms (2:3 and 3:4)
- Format: 84 reproducible PDF pages. Instant PDF download.
- Each unit contains: 1 introductory page, 3 levels of one line rhythms, 3 levels of 2-hand rhythms, and 3 Rhythm Maneuvers pages. 7 units in all.
Rhythm Manipulations® Streaming Tracks
- Level: Early intermediate to late intermediate
- Format: Web access to 750 MP3 tracks
- Access: From any device using a browser
- Features: 3 tempos per line, A full 2 measure click track to prepare
- Style: Original composed music. All different styles. A different style for every page.
Rhythm Menagerie® and Rhythm Manipulations® are the core rhythm curriculum that thousands of teachers around the world are using to establish an internal sense of rhythm in their students. These reproducible books follow a logical and sequential approach to teaching rhythm and are carefully graded to help students master rhythm.
The Menagerie and Manipulations streaming tracks are an integral part of helping students feel the rhythm with their whole body. These tracks contain a wide variety of musical styles and have been created at three different tempos to help students learn at the tempo that is best for them. The streaming tracks help ensure that students and teachers can play them at any time, with any device that has internet access.
The accompaniment tracks also help ensure that students know how the rhythm is played. In the first two tracks for every line, the notated rhythm is clapped or tapped so the student knows exactly how the rhythm sounds. The third track takes away this help and contains just the accompaniment music.
Rhythm Menagerie® Video:
Rhythm Manipulations® Video:
Streaming Accompaniment Tracks:
This bundle includes access to a total of 1,615 tracks! There are 3 tempos of tracks for each line of music and students and teachers can use the tempo that helps them be successful. Here is more information about how the Streaming Tracks work:
Watch these videos for samples of the tracks:
Rhythm Menagerie® Streaming Tracks
Rhythm Manipulations® Accompaniment Tracks
Can I use this to teach myself rhythm?
Yes! Because of the versatile tracks, you can now use Rhythm Menagerie® and Rhythm Manipulations® with these accompaniment tracks to learn rhythm on your own. Since the first 2 tracks of each line (there are 3 tracks per line) include the clapping of the notated rhythm in the book, students can check to make sure they are clapping/tapping the right rhythms.
How does the subscription/purchase work?
- After payment, you get web access to 1,615 tracks organized on secure pages. This means that you can log in to ComposeCreate.com from any device (computer, ipad, iphone, smartphone) and play any of the tracks from either book.
- The tracks are hosted on our super fast web server
- They are organized by unit and page (see screenshots at top of page)
- To access quickly, simply go to your Account page and click on Memberships.
- You will only pay for the Rhythm Menagerie® and Rhythm Manipulations® books one time. Then, payment for the streaming tracks subscription will recur automatically every month.
Will I be able to download the streaming tracks?
No. This subscription gives you web access to the tracks, but they are secured and cannot be downloaded. If you wish to purchase the tracks outright so that you can have the mp3 files in your possession and play them on media players of your choice, then you can purchase the Rhythm Menagerie® streaming tracks or Rhythm Manipulations® streaming tracks.
What if I have already purchased the tracks as a download?
You will still have access to all of those previously purchased tracks and can use them with your favorite media players. However, this subscription is a separate purchase as it gives you an easy way of accessing these tracks from a central location.
W.H. –
I would be tearing my hair out if it wasn’t for Menagerie and Manipulations. They have made my life so much better. After 6 months, two of my rhythmically challenged transfer students are beginning to play rhythms correctly the first time.
Secondly, all my younger students now count automatically under their breath. It is amazing. No reminders needed; it is just part of their playing. I am amazed! Another girl, who had a serious rhythm issue, just couldn’t feel a steady beat even when walking, has a good internal beat.
Janette Rupert –
Thank you so much for your years of work on “Rhythm Menagerie” and “Rhythm Manipulations”. They have greatly enhanced my studio. The students are really enjoying them. Your creativity is amazing!
Diane Hidy –
I love these! Each set meets a need for fun and rhythm. Seriously. They’re great.
Betsy –
My intermediate level students don’t like to count out loud but with Rhythm Manipulations, they learn how to count to get it right. Rhythm Manipulations has been a great value and fun for students to use with many positives benefits for my students!
Elizabeth –
A must-have resource in my studio, Rhythm Menagerie has helped all students become more rhythmically accurate. Because pitch is removed, beginning students who are not yet reading on staff or are insecure on staff don’t have any limitations. I highly recommend the whole package!
Valerie A –
I’ve been teaching piano for twenty five years now and never really enjoyed teaching rhythms until now. The students are engaged. They enjoy the variety and how the rhythms are actually musical. They aren’t some random set of quarters/half notes. In my studio we love the new Rhythm Menagerie and accompaniment tracks.
Kimberly Baker –
Wow!!! I LOVE the new Rhythm Menagerie book, tracks, and stickers! I’ve been teaching for almost 15 years, and have used another rhythm book for that whole time, but I recognized that it lacked some things, particularly for pianists, like two-handed rhythms, but I hadn’t found anything else better than what I had. I’ve also thought for a few years that I’d love to create my own tracks for students to clap along with so it would sound like they were “in a real band.” So when I received Wendy’s email announcing the new and improved Rhythm Menagerie, I was SUPER excited!!! She did all the work I’ve only dreamed of doing! I have about 60 students, and when I introduced it to them, almost every single one of them smiled! I’ve never had that high of a percentage of smiles with anything else I’ve introduced to everyone! I decided to go ahead and start with Unit 1, even with intermediate and advanced students, just so they’d have the opportunity to clap along with the tracks…And who doesn’t need more rhythm practice???!!! The older students enjoy it because it’s not too hard.
Some of the comments from my students, while not overly verbose, are indicative of their attitudes: “Cool! That was the awesomest! (referring to one of the tracks). Fun! That’s helpful! This is so much better than [the other rhythm book]!” No one single student has complained so far. There have been lots of smiles, and a few cute giggles of enjoyment! One student said, “Thanks for showing me!” One student was shaking her hips/dancing to the beat! Another said, “That’s going to be pretty cool, actually!”
All of the students have thought the stickers are super cool! I wondered at first if some would be silly and would want to put them just anywhere on the sticker page, but so far, they’ve all wanted to fit their stickers perfectly into the picture on the page.
Some students and parents have looked for the tracks or asked me where they could find the tracks. I guess they’ll just have to wait for lessons to do rhythm with the tracks! They’re worth every penny I spent! I love the variety of music styles in the tracks. To me, the Unit 1 Page 2 tracks sound like French jazz music… I told one student that that’s what I thought (before she clapped along), and she said, “I like jazz and I like French music.” 🙂 So cute! Parents have also been enthusiastic about this whole new system!
Thanks a MILLION, Wendy, for taking all the time (I can’t imagine HOW MANY millions of hours it must have taken you!) and sharing your creativity with us!!! I’m hoping that your next project is to create tracks and stickers for Rhythm Manipulations!
Kay Lowry –
I have been using RM for about five months, and I have noticed that it really helps my students’ sight reading abilities. They have learned to hold long notes for full duration – which is a pet peeve of mine! It’s also a flexible resource. I use it to open a private lesson or a group lesson. It is a fun way to get their brains into a “musical mode.” Thanks, Wendy!
Jeanne Kent –
I am sold on your rhythm products! I will go back and see if I can find a video of one of my students who had no understanding of steady beat. Now she is so good at it! Most of it is due to Rhythm Menagerie. She is in unit 6 and always masters the fastest track. I can’t say enough good things about Rhythm Menagerie! I have even started saying, “Do Rhythm Menagerie with your piece before playing it”. It works!
Jonna Ledyaev –
I love the rhythm products from ComposeCreate! I’ve had the Rhythm Cup Explorations for a while, but just recently purchased Rhythm Menagerie and Rhythm Manipulations. My first student is my own daughter. She is determined to become a drummer… but I have not been overwhelmed by her sense of rhythm! I told her I would be open to drum lessons once she could do some basic rhythm exercises and learn some drumstick control. She actually manages the sticks reasonably well, but the rhythm practice was dull and quickly lost it’s excitement. Then I discovered these books! We have been at this for a while, so we are rolling through the early exercises quickly… but we are having a blast! Even the early stuff has been fun! She’s not too eager for the animal sounds, so we have adapted those into different sections on a drum set. Now she works through the exercises, but she is learning to do the rhythms with a combination of hands and feet… great preparation for the drums. With the soundtracks, she loves practicing. This is the most enjoyable and most effective rhythm course I’ve ever seen. Thank you!
Lori –
This is a wonderful resource to solidify every student’s sense of rhythm! I’ve just begun using it after thinking about it for a long time. I don’t know why I waited so long. My students are loving it and I know it’s helping them. Even students who have NEVER counted out loud before are doing so with Rhythm Menagerie.
Edna –
I recently used Rhythm Manipulations for an advanced rhythm class for high school through adult students. It was not only very effective due to the excellent sequencing, but also quite enjoyable. I’ve done plenty of rhythm activities with many groups, and this one has moved to the front of the line…right along with Rhythm Cup Explorations.
Katie –
I watched the live webinar about My First Rhythm Cup Explorations, and was excited to get it because in my studio everyone works on rhythm cups during January-February and I always found those problems you mentioned with my littlest students who wanted to participate but the accompaniment tracks were too fast and there was too much on the page. I’d resorted to covering up everything on the page but one line and letting them try without the background tracks (but somehow it just wasn’t quite as fun). Thank you for filling the gap there and I cannot wait for January to try them out with my little guys.
But, it doesn’t end there. I was revitalized by the webinar and decided to pull out my old cups materials with a teenage student who loves lessons but hasn’t been practicing. I’ve been struggling to come up every week with things to motivate her as we crawl along. But, she wants to get better at rhythm to help her with choir at school, so she was thrilled to do rhythm cups and even decided to make her Fall piano goal a rhythm goal to master a page of rhythms every week! Thank you. Lesson saved.
Then this morning, I introduced Rhythm menagerie to a kindergartner. The rhythm tracks were a hit, and a big motivator to practice this week so she can clap along with the “FAST” tracks next week at lessons. I think the Mom had the most fun out of the 3 of us just watching us!
Forget about pupil savers, you’re creating teacher savers 🙂
Jeanne Kent –
Rhythm Menagerie is the greatest! I use it with almost all of my students.
I have one student who had no concept of steady beat. None at all. I worked with her for a long time, trying everything I could think of and asking help from others. Still nothing.
Rhythm Menagerie changed it all. She very diligently practices and every week she came back with 5 or 6 days of practice marked. There were some she struggled over and took home again for more practice but even with that she was the first one to finish the whole series. She now understands steady beat and can count and clap every rhythm in the book along with most anything she comes across in her music.
Now we are on Rhythm Cup Explorations. I have made a chart to help me keep the skills of each book in line with difficulty and we are working steadily through. This child also struggles with physical coordination so tapping cups with the fastest track is not usually going to happen but as long as she is understanding the rhythm and able to tap it more slowly I am happy. ???? We have gotten to eighth note syncopation and had the same page several weeks in a row working together on each line slowly and even writing counts in as needed. This week I realized that she just couldn’t keep up with even the slowest recording. So I had a brainstorm of an idea. We took the recording more slowly. Counted each click as an eighth note pulse and only counted one measure before we started. She tapped the rhythm perfectly! The speed of the track was the only problem.
Rhythm Menagerie has been a lifesaver for my student and for me. All my students enjoy it and are good at rhythm. We even use “Rhythm Menagerie” practice where they tap the rhythm of their currently assigned music right on the notes, sometimes one hand at a time sometimes both counting out loud. That is often the first step of practice in their lesson notes. I use all of the rhythm products: Rhythm Menagerie, Rhythm Cup Explorations and Rhythm Cup Explorations 2 and Rhythm Manipulations. If anyone if wondering if they are worth the price, they definitely are.
Jennifer –
Such a time saver for me! Manipulations is a fabulous resource for a wide range of students–carefully graded so students never feel overwhelmed. So grateful, Wendy!
Carol F. –
I really enjoyed beginning to use your rhythm curriculum with my students this past week. Every one of them, (ages 6 through 74) enjoyed it and everyone was engaged. This really makes practicing rhythms fun!
Carol Schneider –
I am a Suzuki teacher that really enjoys your Rhythm Menagerie and Rhythm Manipulations cirruculms too. When students learn to play by ear to begin with, its easy to get fooled into thinking they understand rhythms. This cirriculum has totally changed my students into better rhythmic readers! Thank you very much😃l
Marah –
I have used Rhythm Menagerie for a few years and my students just love it!! You’re so right in creating these resources, our students need more rhythm practice then they traditionally get.
Veda –
I have consistently been using Menagerie and Manipulations in lessons with tracks (in person) and it’s the best resource out there for teaching rhythms. I just wish I had purchased it much earlier. Talk about lightening the load. The tracks are a must have and make it so much fun. So glad I invested in them!!
Rachel –
This is a great series for helping students to really understand rhythm and playing with an accompaniment track! My students rhythms and counting have really improved since I started using this series! Now all my students go through the series. But for older students we usually skip the animal sounds pages although some have had a lot of fun doing them. This series is definitely a must have for my studio!
Valerie –
Rhythm Menagerie seemed like a big investment for me, but after using rhythm cups and watching the webinar I decided to give it a go! I definitely see a difference with the kids I’ve consistently used the curriculum with in terms of their ability to count and keep a steady beat, as well as their performance on state testing. I also love being able to take some time “off the bench” and clap them out with the amazing background tracks. Sometimes you just need to jump like a kangaroo or hoot like an owl to renew your energy and reconnect with your students.
Jane Barton –
I LOVE Rhythm Menagerie. It really helps rhythm training and it is such fun especially with the backing tracks. You can also be very creative with how you use the sheets.
Emma –
Rhythm Menagerie has and continues to be a great help for every single one of my students. Last year a Jr. High choir teacher even told me that he wished all his students knew rhythm as well as my student does!
Lorna K –
I used the Menagerie and Manipulations streaming tracks all summer – (like 40 times a week!). They were a huge hit, we did a big focus on rhythm all summer and this was the perfect solution.
Miranda –
I debated purchasing this resource for a while. I didn’t want to spend the money at first and tried finding resources that cost less but were ultimately unhelpful. there really is no substitute for rhythm menagerie and manipulations. my students love it and I love it !! it is beyond helpful and is making such a different in my studio with rhythm issues ! if you are on the fence about this resource then take it from me and save yourself the trouble of trying out other resources and go for this one. you will need nothing else !
Corinne –
Rhythm Cups, Rhythm Menagerie and Rhythm Manipulations have been game changers, especially for students who don’t seem to naturally feel the beat. Students LOVE this curriculum.
Sherri Rector –
Many reviews I read before purchasing the Rhythm Menagerie curriculum said they wished they’d started Rhythm Menagerie sooner. And now I’m also one of those. I used the Rhythm Menagerie book and streaming tracks this past year with all my students, every one of them, from the beginning of the book. Not only did we improve everyone’s rhythm, but we also learned, worked on, and experienced so much more. We worked weekly on sight reading rhythm as we looked at a new page each week. We learned about all different kinds and sounds of music because those streaming tracks use so many different styles of music. That lead to conversations about what they liked and what they didn’t – that was interesting! We also worked on being able to come back in when we get lost in the music or hit a hard part. By the end of the book, the students were able to feel that four-measure pattern and were much better at coming back in when the music repeated. Didn’t even realize they were getting that experience. We learned how much we needed to practice to perform the rhythms correctly the next week. Another unlooked-for benefit was becoming more comfortable clapping their part when the melody did the same rhythm and also when the melody did something completely different. That really threw them off at first. And an absolutely hilarious experience was doing the third level sounds and motions. Who knew that clicking one’s tongue in rhythm could make one laugh so hard one can’t breathe! This year we start Rhythm Manipulations. Thank you, Wendy, for a wonderful rhythm curriculum and awesome streaming tracks!