No, this is not a new variation of Twinkle!
This article is a quick breakdown of the musical phrases that make up Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as we are learning it in D major.
A cheese sandwich is two slices of bread with cheese in the middle.
If you didn’t know that already, perhaps consider culinary school.
A lot of musical pieces work this way if you listen carefully. You will often hear the first part of the piece repeated at the end.
It helps to break down a piece of music into its “ingredients” like this so you can focus on getting all the smaller parts sounding great before attempting the whole thing.
It’s also less daunting this way!
Often when we practice it’s tempting to just start at the beginning and try to power through. Made a mistake? Back to the beginning and have another go.
What often happens, though, is that while the first part gets easier and easier, the middle section doesn’t get as much attention and we perceive it as harder than it really is.
Practice tip:
Break the piece down into smaller chunks and focus practice on the most difficult (or the least familiar) bits first.
This is a great approach whether you’re playing Twinkle or a concerto.
Repetition is key — the difference between a “hard” and “easy” part often comes down to how many times you’ve played it.
Work at a section so that you can play it three times IN A ROW with confidence.
The ingredients
Bread
Butter
Cheese
Cheese
Bread
Butter
D D A A B B A
G G F# F# E E D
A A G G F# F# E
A A G G F# F# E
D D A A B B A
G G F# F# E E D
You can see above that there are really only three parts to Twinkle – we just need to know how to put them together. Already it’s half the work!
Whether you’re practising using long bows or one of the rhythm patterns, the approach is the same. Take each ingredient one at a time and repeat it until you’re comfortable with it.
The more you play each one, the easier it will get.
Bread
Twinkle Bread is the easiest part. Open strings and one finger (B) on the A string. Loads of time to think about when that finger needs to go down.
Bread
Twinkle Butter is the bottom half of D-major scale (descending). This is why we practice scales!
Place all three fingers on the D string to start. Play your descending scale – two bows for each note except the last one.
Cheese
Twinkle Cheese is perhaps hardest part because we have to get all three fingers onto the D string in a hurry. After that, though, it’s just another descending scale pattern down to the first finger E.
Your posture and left hand position are the keys to making this easier. Make sure you have these pieces in place:
- Left elbow under the violin body
- Left wrist back and away from the neck
- Violin high on shoulder
Curl your three fingers over the D string and hover. Don’t touch the string, but be ready to pounce.
Play your A string twice and then POUNCE and get all three fingers down on D string to hit the G.
GO SLOWLY at first and build up to playing at the same tempo as the other ingredients.
Putting it together
Start by sticking ingredients together (bread followed by butter or butter followed by cheese). You can assemble the ingredients in any way you like — it’s your sandwich!
You don’t always have to start at the beginning — work on whichever bit is giving you the most trouble.
Associating the musical phrase with the ingredients should help memorising the sequence easier. Have mum or Dad call it out as you play the first few times.