Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: the opening phrase, its key and note range
The opening phrase of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” runs from C4 to A4, 9 semitones, with its tonic on C4 at 100 bpm, and rates medium to sing. Origin: Traditional (French melody, English lyrics 1806).
Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with pitch feedback
The opening phrase of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is transcribed here with its tonic on C4 at 100 bpm in 4 beats to the bar. The 14 notes span C4 to A4 — 9 semitones, with 1 leap of a major third or more — and the span and leaps together rate it medium to sing; a full 4-pass session runs about 0:38.
9 semitones as transcribed. Once you have taken the range test, the practice room opens it fitted to your range, and you can shift it by semitones from there. Without a saved range it opens at this written pitch and is scored in either octave, so a lower voice can sing it an octave down and a higher voice an octave up.
- One time through
- 0:10 at 100 bpm
- A full session
- 0:38 — 4 passes
- Leaps of a major third or more
- 1
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star lyrics, as transcribed here
- Twinkle twinkle little star
- how I wonder what you are
The songbook transcribes the opening phrase rather than the whole song, because 4 tight repetitions of a phrase you can hear yourself improve on beats one distracted run at the full thing.
Origin and copyright status
Melody from the French air “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” (1761); English lyrics by Jane Taylor (1806). Both long out of copyright.
- Attribution
- Traditional (French melody, English lyrics 1806)
- Language
- English
Every melody in the songbook is public domain, which is why the whole thing can be sung in a browser without a licence. A specific recording or arrangement of the same tune can still be under copyright — this is our own transcription of the melody.
Genre, era and what it drills
Genre and era say where the melody comes from; “narrow range” is what it asks of a voice.