One Tune, Three Songs
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet Song and Baa Baa Black Sheep: three songs from your childhood, secretly sharing one tune. All three come from the 18th-century French song "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", and Mozart wrote twelve variations on it (K. 265, early 1780s). Read the whole tune on the staff, map its form (A B B A), see its shape (a perfect-fifth leap up, then a staircase down home), its long line endings and its three chords, I, IV and V. Then decorate it with running notes and a new rhythm, and make your own variation.
In this lesson you'll
- Meet the tune behind Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet Song and Baa Baa Black Sheep (same notes, new words), its origin in the 18th-century French song "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", and Mozart's 12 variations on it, K. 265.
- Map why it sticks: form A B B A (the opening returns at the end), a leap of a perfect fifth (C up to G) and a walk down the scale home, a long note at the end of every line, and three chords (C, F, G = I, IV, V) with section B ending on the five chord.
- Play the tune in C with the chords C – F – C – G – C, make your own variation (running notes between the melody notes, or a long–short rhythm), and tell section A from section B, plain tune from variation and leap from step by ear.
Music in this lesson
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Startraditional · public domain, melody played in C
- The Alphabet Songtraditional · public domain, same melody
- Baa Baa Black Sheeptraditional · public domain, same melody
- Ah! vous dirai-je, mamanFrench song · 18th century · public domain
- 12 Variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", K. 265Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · early 1780s (named only; the variations played are our own)
Remember
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet Song and Baa Baa Black Sheep share one melody, from the 18th-century French song "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman"; Mozart wrote 12 variations on it (K. 265, early 1780s).
A leap up, a staircase down, and a return: the first leap is a perfect fifth (C to G), the melody then steps down the scale home, and the form A B B A brings the opening back at the end, perfect for memory.
Every line ends on a long note, leaving room to breathe and to fit different words; keep the chords and the shape, add running notes or change the rhythm, and the same simple tune becomes a variation.