Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

• Rangemajor sixth
• Notes42, 6 different
• ScaleMajor, no accidentals
• Length hereabout 29 s

About Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

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.

It is six phrases of seven notes each, the first and last identical, and it never leaves the first six notes of the scale. That is why it is the opening piece of the Suzuki method and the first thing most people pick out on a new instrument.

Play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on your instrument

26 of the 27 playable instruments here have every note it needs. 26 play it where the library writes it; the rest move it to another key or octave, and each page says which. Every page has the instrument itself, with the song loaded, above the notes.

• Kalimba tabsas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Piano letter notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Mbira tabsas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Handpan tabsas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Oud notesas written · C3–A3 · major sixth
• Violin notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Cello notesas written · C3–A3 · major sixth
• Erhu notesas written · D4–B4 · major sixth
• Dulcimer tabas written · D4–B4 · major sixth
• Xylophone letter notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Marimba letter notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Glockenspiel letter notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Steel Drum letter notesas written · F4–D5 · major sixth
• Ocarina notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Harmonica tabsas written · C5–A5 · major sixth
• Trumpet notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Clarinet notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Saxophone notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Flute notesas written · G4–E5 · major sixth
• Recorder notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Tuba notesas written · B♭1–G2 · major sixth
• Euphonium notesas written · B♭2–G3 · major sixth
• Trombone notesas written · B♭2–G3 · major sixth
• Accordion letter notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Harp letter notesas written · C4–A4 · major sixth
• Lyre tabsas written · C4–A4 · major sixth

Instruments that cannot play it

• Guzheng — it would need G4, which it does not have in any size or key here.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star letter notes

Written in C major, from C4 to A4, with each note’s number in the scale under it — the form that transfers to any instrument. A dash holds a note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and each line is one phrase.

Where these notes come from

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

No lyrics are printed on this page or any other here: these pages are about a melody and how to play it.

More nursery rhymes & first tunes

• Hot Cross Buns18th century
• Lightly Row19th century
• Mary Had a Little LambLowell Mason, 1831
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat1852
• London Bridge1744 (rhyme)
• Old MacDonald1917 (in this form)
• Frère Jacques18th century