German Christmas Carols: Mallet Instruments

German Christmas Carols with Lyrics in English and in German. In this edition we have assembled 36 traditional German Christmas carols, partly from Christian hymnbooks, partly from traditional folklore. A number of carols have been rendered into English for the first time, some existing English versions have been revised, and some have been taken over as they were. The German stanzas are provided next to the English version. There are also two alphabetical lists of the carols with both the English/German and the German/English first lines.

Here are the first lines of the carols included:

1. A Time Has Come Right for Us
2. All the World, All Stars May Cheer
3. Behold a Branch Is Growing
4. Bells Never Sweeter Are Ringing
5. Children, Watch Tomorrow's Wonder
6. Christ the Child Is Coming
7. Come Now, Ye Shepherds
8. Come Running, Ye Shepherds
9. Daughter Zion May Rejoice
10. Father Christmas Calls Next Day
11. From Heav'n Above
12. From Heaven On High
13. In Bethlehem, We Gather
14. In Dulci Jubilo
15. Joseph, Dearest Joseph Mine
16. Let's Be Merry and Rejoice
17. Maria Walks through Thorny Groves
18. Merry Christmas Everywhere
19. Now at the Manger Here I Stand
20. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree
21. O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
22. O Come, Little Children
23. O How Joyfully
24. Praise God the Lord
25. Ring, Bells
26. Silent Night, Holy Night
27. Softly Float All the Flakes
28. Still, Keep Still
29. The Christmas Tree with Candles Burning
30. There Comes a Galley
31. Tiny Snowflake
32. Unlock the Gates
33. We Praise You, Jesus, From Our Heart
34. What Does This Foreshadow
35. When Shepherds Awoke
36. While by My Sheep I Watched at Night

Traditional German Christmas Carols „Mallet Instruments“ is just one in a series of JOIN IN-MUSIC music books for a large number of instruments and singers. JOIN IN-MUSIC is designed to allow different combinations of instruments and singers to come together and perform Christmas carols: string and wind instruments can join in with a choir, instrumental duos and trios can be formed, or singers can be accompanied by the piano or the organ.

JOIN IN-MUSIC makes it easy for any musical group, be it in school, in church, in your community or in your home, to play together right away: the music of all the books is compatible. Any instrument can play the tune or the second or third voice, and all voices, including the score for the piano, are set in easy music. Thus the carols can come to life without extensive practicing.

The author Markus J. Kiefer (Dr. phil.) has successfully been publishing sheet music for wind and string instruments for many years in Germany. As a teacher of music in wind and string classes he has not only written a book on methods for classes of wind players, but has also produced collections of Christmas carols, of national anthems and of easy pieces of music for young players with several publishers.

In German Christmas Carols he has collected 36 of the finest traditional German Christmas carols, completely rendered in English for the first time (including the German lyrics as well).

He has arranged the music in the editions for the numerous instruments following a JOIN IN-MUSIC concept that allows for all the instruments to be played with each other.

Winfried E. Christ (Dr. phil.), a teacher of English in Germany, has taken care of the English versions of the German carols. While there were 11 carols with traditional English translations that could be used without any further change, some others he had to revise and adapt for one or the other musical or linguistic reason. Finally he translated 20 of the carols for the first time, solving the intricacies of the interplay of bar, metre and rhyme to achieve a result that can be easily sung and understood by the English singer.