Sherry Blevins / Blevins Marian

Treble.
Blevins' partner song, consisting of two original melodies, a child's poem, and the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star text, is both uplifting and whimsical. The triple meter, ostinato-like piano accompaniment supports and propels the beautiful melodies forward - much like a shooting star. A wonderful addition to any concert program throughout the year.
I was inspired to compose this piece several years ago when my brother, Jason Blevins, shared a riddle that my niece, Marian, (then 8 years old) had written just for fun. I was so taken with it that I wondered if she had written it by herself. He assured me that she had and sent me an image including brightly colored construction paper cut into stars, comets, and a moon pasted onto a black sky. The words read:Right up in the sky is where you will see me lie.All of us so bright, you can only see us in the night.Oh, all of us near and far, I wish I could see you where you are.Who am I? And then under a flap of construction paper that said “answer” it read,“I am a star.”Lyricist, Marian Blevins (pictured at age 9)A new melody came to me as soon as I read it, so I was excited to get to work composing. Since I wanted this piece to be accessible for younger singers, I knew I wanted to write a partner song to accompany Marian’s part. I immediately thought how fun it would be to create a new melody using the words to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” After going down quite the rabbit hole and with the help of my former college student, now friend and wonderful academic librarian, Alyssa Nance, I learned that before it was a song, it was a poem written in 1806. It was then called “The Star” as a part of a collection called Rhymes for the Nursery by Jane Taylor.According to James J. Fuld in his text, The Book of World-Famous Music, the tune and words we all know as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” were likely first printed together in The Singing Master No. III First Class Tune-Book in London in 1838. I had always heard that Mozart composed the melody. This is incorrect. The original melody comes from a French folk song called “Ah! Vous Dirai-Je, Maman.” Mozart wrote 12 variations for piano based on the French melody in 1778 when he was 21.

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