When learning to play an instrument, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is usually one of the first pieces recommended to young beginners and parents! It’s short, simple, and everyone knows the melody and lyrics. In this tutorial we will learn how to play this song on the recorder. We will first take a look at the notes needed and how to play them on the recorder with the help of a fingering chart. We also provide the sheet music and an easy letter notes version as PDF for free!
History of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The lyrics of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star come from the poem “The Star,” penned by English poet and novelist Jane Taylor. Born in 1783, Taylor made significant contributions to children’s literature, often working alongside her sister, Ann Taylor. “The Star” first appeared in 1806 as part of the collection “Rhymes for the Nursery.” This poem was eventually paired with the melody of the French nursery rhyme Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, a tune from the 18th century that has also been famously adapted in classical compositions, including variations by Mozart.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Finger Chart
To play the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a recorder, you need six basic notes. We are playing the song in C major, so these notes are C, D, E, F, G and A. The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with these notes on the recorder. You already know how to play these notes without much difficulty? Great, then you can jump directly to the notes or sheet music. If not, take a look at the fingering chart below, which shows all the notes needed to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
You should practice these individual notes first, and once you have mastered them, try to play these notes without looking at the fingering chart. Once you have mastered this, you can move on to the next part where you play the song with these notes.
Notes for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Let’s try playing the melody. For beginners, it’s easy to start with the lyrics and the letter notes above. Notice that the first two lines and the last two lines follow the same melody sequence. Start by playing it slowly and just the first line at the beginning. Once you can play the first line without too much difficulty, you can move on to the next line, but still play it more slowly than too fast. When you can play the whole melody without mistakes, you can increase the speed.
Here are the lyrics with the letter notes to play it in an easy way:
Check out the recording below on how Twinkle Twinkle Little Star should sound like played on a recorder. You can also reduce the speed of the recording to play along while practicing.
Sheet Music for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
If you understand the basics of music theory and can read music, you should use the sheet music instead of the lyrics with letter notes. All the information about a song is in the sheet music. It shows the pitches, rhythms, and chords of a song. But for beginners, sheet music can be a challenge. It requires some understanding of music theory and some practice reading it. But if you are just starting to learn to read music, or you want to introduce it to your students, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is the perfect song.
Guitar Chords are illustrated in guitar chords diagram. They are a simplified illustration of the guitar neck and it tells you where to put which finger on which string. Learn more about how to read guitar chords!
Here is the recorder sheet music for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:
Free Recorder Printables for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Feel free to download the recorder letter Notes and sheet music for your practicing or lessons!
Interested in instruments other than the recorder? You can also find a free lesson on how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the guitar, ukulele or piano.
