A film like Princess Mononoke must surely be every composer’s dream – a story with a truly grand scope, powerful conflicts of ideology, several overarching themes and several interesting, recurring characters. Such content would certainly provide an endless stream of inspiration for bolder musical themes, motifs, and avenues for development within a score as opposed to the more intimate, personal works Hisaishi had scored for Ghibli leading up to the mid-90s. The work most…..
As you’ve noticed, one of my coping methods when I become addicted to a new piece of music, or a song, is to write sheet music, so here I am again. The song in question is the credits song for Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service, called “Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta nara”. First, here is the original song….
The original Laputa had about 30-35 minutes of score for its length of around two hours. One of the things which stuck most in my mind when I first watched the film was the silence that was so prevalent throughout, including dramatic sequences that in Hollywood films would have exploited with plenty of bombastic music. When Laputa was brought over for release in America, it was decided that the silence might make American viewers uncomfortable. Some might disagree, but in the end, the result was commissioning Joe Hisaishi to rescore the entire film, bringing the runtime up to about an hour of music. There is a potential here for an endless debate about the……
Er, okay, that was a bit overdramatic, but it’s a bit hard to not get emotional when you watch over 500 musicians come together under the baton of Hisaishi Joe to perform the beautiful and evocative pieces of music from the greatest animated films of all time. Hisaishi’s music won’t always satisfy listeners who are constantly searching for musical innovation or complexity, but they will satisfy by a mile anyone who is searching for music with sincerity and heart. Beyond that, I can’t think of any other composer who can so effectively bring to music the nostalgia, wistfulness and childlike wonder we all retain within us even as we grow older.
Honey and Clover represents absolute perfection when it comes to the use of music. Okay, maybe I’m being too excessive, but it really is a shining example of music, both vocal and score, done right. Before Honey and Clover, I paid very little attention to vocal music of any kind or language (I mostly listened to classical music, film scores, or similar), but Honey and Clover really showed me how powerful vocal music can be when used properly. Perhaps I was just brainwashed by all the superficial songs that pervade the airwaves. Honey and Clover definitely changed that mindset…..
Username: Theowne Real Name: Prasanth Interests: Studio Ghibli, French classical music, physics, piano, Japanese, Indian classical music. Occupation: Computer Engineering Student Currently an intern at IBM. Location: Toronto, Canada Contact: Feel free to strike up a convo at " theowne [AT] gmail [DOT] com. Omohide?: The old spelling of omoide, meaning "memories". A reference to the film 'Omohide Poroporo'
