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SongsTwinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
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4 more songs need notes this instrument does not have. Changing the size or key brings some of them into reach.

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Traditional — melody is "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", published 1761. Public domain.

17 tines · C4–E6 · C major · The standard. Almost every tab you find is written for this.

Tap a tine, or drag across them for a glissando. On a keyboard the letters on the tines are the ones to press — they follow the tines left to right.

KalimbaFree · printable · plays in your browser

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star — Kalimba Tabs

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, written out for the kalimba as number tabs with the letter under every note and set up above on the 17-key. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the kalimba waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes42, 6 pitches
  • RangeC4–A4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo100 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a kalimba play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?

Yes — every size on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • 7-note✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 · load it
  • 8-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 · load it
  • 10-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 · load it
  • 17-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 · loaded above
  • 21-key✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C4–A4 · load it

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: kalimba tabs

The large line is the number stamped on the tine; the small line under it is its letter name. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star — kalimba tabs (17-key) · tonalics.com

The 6 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 6 and you can play the whole tune.

  • 1C4×6
  • 2D4×6
  • 3E4×8
  • 4F4×8
  • 5G4×10
  • 6A4×4

What to expect on a kalimba

  • It runs from C4 to A4, a major sixth, using 6 different notes. Its lowest note is the lowest this instrument has, and 19 semitones of range are left above it.
  • 90% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a fifth, C4 to G4, at note 3.
  • The left thumb plays 18 notes and the right 18, with 6 on the centre tine. The thumbs alternate the whole way through: no thumb ever has to play two different tines in a row.
  • The furthest it reaches from the centre is the 3rd tine out.

About the tune

The melody is French: “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman”, first published in Paris in 1761. Mozart wrote a set of twelve piano variations on it in the early 1780s, and in English it has carried three different rhymes — this one, the alphabet song and Baa Baa Black Sheep all share the tune.

Traditional — melody is "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", published 1761. Public domain. More about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star →

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, which does not have the notes.

More songs for the kalimba

All 34 kalimba songs · Christmas songs for kalimba · The online kalimba on its own

Playing it on a real kalimba?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The kalimba tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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