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Translator's
Notes
When I first came across these little books, I felt a
good deal like Alice, I think, when she looked through the
long passage - having fallen down the rabbit hole - "and
into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to...
wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those
cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through
the doorway." All she lacked, she felt, was knowing how to
begin.
The bright flowers and cool fountains of this lovely
garden were several. First, one knew that books of
arrangements by Keetman and Ronnefeld would be good. Then
there were all those old Christmas songs - some I didn't
know, many my young students didn't know - which seemed to
be fresh, new additions to our standard seasonal repertoire.
The arrangements themselves were invariably clean, tasteful,
and performable by all but the very youngest of my K-6
students. Upper elementary students could easily handle all
the recorder parts.
But, like Alice, I hardly knew where to begin. The songs
were, with very few exceptions, in German. Actually, the
first song I used was a joint translation project
accomplished by my second-graders and me. That particular
translation is used in Volume II "A, A, A, the Baby in the
Hay."
Then came the stroke of good fortune. I enrolled in a
German class at the local branch of our state university,
where I found to my delight that the teacher was a native of
Munich, that she had spent much time also in other parts of
Bavaria, and that the Bavarian dialect, so much a part of
all the Schulwerk, was an integral part of her experience.
These translations and adaptations are a result of our
working together for more than a year.
In all cases we began, Claudia and I, with the literal
translation from German to English. Next we tried to create
singable translations - always with top priority being given
to the spirit of the song, of its language; with matching
words to rhythm and to melodic line; with maintaining the
simplicity so vital to the elemental. In some cases there
were already in existence, several of them in other parts of
the Schulwerk, good to excellent translations. These were
used whenever possible. In a few cases we could find no way
to create a really acceptable translation, no matter how
free. In these cases we substituted another poem.
These things we did, always remembering Alice and the
beautiful garden - the bright flowers, the cool fountains -
and the young child for whom the arrangements were made.
Enjoy.
Gin Ebinger
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