Studio Ghibli Music Explained by a Jazz Pianist

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[CharlesCornellStudios]

Gimme music you want to see a breakdown of GO

[biltrex]

Joe Hisaishi is the John Williams of Japan. Not that they have similar styles, but their legendary status, their personal humility and grace, their consistent quality, their understanding of storytelling, and the way their music always becomes another character in the film. I wouldn't want to live in a world without their works.

[TheAnimeMan]

Love the way you broke this down!
Good stuff, man!

[SteakOnLegs]

“it starts off very simple, and then kind of gets very interesting” sir, you also just described every ghibli movie ever, not just the music :)

[carlosvasquez]

Dive deeper into Spirited away please. There's a half-step movement in the bass line in One Summer Day that haunts me right after the piano starts playing the melody. The first chords in One Summer Day are also amazingly complex and I know people would want to hear about that.

[Stepica]

I saw Hisaishi here in Prague, in 2019, conducting Prague Orchestra, with projection behind them. It was breathtaking, the way he doesnt rush, he lets the phrase develope, doesnt care where the "crown" of the phrase ""should" be, the lightness he moves between tempoes, the never-ending always-forward-moving tension even in calm sections, those sudden bursts of energy he is able to give to orchestra, the kindness he emits towards soloists...he is trully amazing.

[nitropig]

I immediately want a part two of Studio Ghibli music. There’s honestly so much and they’re all so iconic

[linping]

I wrote a paper about his special Japanese sound. He used a lot of quartal harmonies to substitute the western cadences. It’s beautiful.

[mimimi]

Hisaishi's songs are VERY difficult to play.. and you did them by ear 😭 you covered his songs so beautifully!!

[decloudius]

the fact that I don't understand a single thing and still watch till the end is amazing

[corey_axler]

Charles, I teach a class on advanced theory and composition at a high school in Pennsylvania and I have to tell you that your videos have become a staple in my class! My students called me the "harmony nerd" until they realized that there were others just as passionate as I am for amazing harmonic structures and progressions! Thanks for helping to inspire a whole generation of musicians understand the beauty of harmony!

[dedouze]

Very nice review, from a jazz and ghibli fan, and probably you won’t read this but for the One Summer’s day theme, you’ll probably be interested in the other version, that starts with a very intriguing piano chord and has a lot of “traditional japanese” feel . It’s the opening of the movie. There’s a recording of this version on Joe Hisaishi’s official channel, a black and white video with him on the piano :). Keep up the good work!

[MnSlippers]

A lot of Ghibli stories seem to be about a character finding their way out of a bad situation that wasn't their fault and the music really seems to convey that well. It has a certain sadness and nostalgia but also a hopefulness. It seems to communicate the feeling of, "This isn't what I wanted or what I had hoped for, and maybe I won't come out of the other side of this unchanged, but even so, I'm going to carry on and do my best."

[onewholeegg]

Listening to One Summer's Day actually had me in tears, man music fuckin rocks

[alysmansfield]

One Summer’s Day is the song I walked down the aisle to 💕

[MuseChick]

I've listened to it so many times but there will never be a time The Path of the Wind doesn't blow me away, it's absolutely incredible. Thank you for this awesome video 💜

[frankyan_]

Charles, I recommend checking out Joe’s piano solo arrangements of these pieces. They highlight how much emotion he can pull out of sparse voicings. Would love to hear you dive into how he picks which notes to include in or omit from each chord.

[mairibee]

It's soooo clear how well trained your ear is as well as your overall skill at playing. I'm ridiculously impressed and also LOVED how much you seemed to genuinely enjoy the music

[severinschmidt]

Whenever i listen to any soundtrack from studio Ghibli, my Eyes are watering... brings so many great memories of my childhood and my grandparents

[ThoseLittleVoicesSEVRUN]

Princess Mononoke. That main theme gives me the most intense goosebumps. So incredible.