What Makes Studio Ghibli Music SO GOOD??!!

A deep dive into the music of Studio Ghibli (Joe Hisaishi)! What makes this music so nostalgic, memorable, and moving??

Filmed and Produced by Nahre Sol
Edited by Nahre Sol and Martino Gasparrini

*Use of copyrighted content by Studio Ghibli falls under the guidelines of fair use.

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#studioghibli #hisaishi #filmscoring

[grissini]

Joe Hisaishi is also such a splendid orchestrator. Those opening scenes in Ponyo, with those Ravel-ish colors bubbling and sparkling around the wonderful animation. Cherished memories.

[SceneComparisons]

There is an amazing doc called 10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki, that shows a moment midway Ponyo's production, that he receives a piece of music from the composer. He loves it and then listen again and again while sketching storyboards, gets emotional. He says that it helps him a lot to finish the work and even to find the right tone of the movie.
Outstanding doc!

[Ol_brown_eyes]

Joe's the man who converts earths emotions into music.

[adolfuschrysratotteacher]

As a music teacher this analysis is truly a giant treasure for my students. Kids nowadays are Studio Ghibli's super fans, you shouldn't avoid to discuss and explore those compositions in the classroom. Thank you Nahre Sol!

[MusicalBasics]

Hisaishi HAS to watch this video. One of the best, most cohesive analyses on Hisaishi's legendary music I've ever seen. I just can't lol, this is just too good. The Pachelbel Canon transformation was excellent.

[Mtaalas]

"My biggest take away is to realize music doesn't need to be overly complex in order to support a complex emotion."
This should be very, VERY obvious to anyone who's done composing for longer than few years. Sadly most don't realize this.

And about the influences: Yes. He has a LOT of influences, and so should everyone. Because if you're pulling from a pool of influences large enough, it becomes almost impossible to pin down where they come from and your vocabulary is so large that there's no longer influences as such, there's only ones original self expressed through their vocabulary learned from the best before you.

Having influences doesn't diminish one's creativity or creations, it gives you more palette to push it to new heights...

[overwhelminglydecayingasta]

I was particularly blown away by the synthesis of all his musical influences - I always felt like his music was in many ways both familiar and exotic, but with those examples you can really see the extent of it! It's like he went and took the best parts of most western musical traditions and imbued them with japanese cultural influences and his own (and Miyazaki's) personal touch - genius!

[feloniouspunk]

Love the idea that one composer can encompass so many styles and yet still have a distinctive voice. Thanks!

[Doodsrsly]

I don’t know how else to say it, but Joe Hisaishi’s music tears at my heartstrings because of its nostalgic quality. Everything sounds purposeful and cherished.

It’s like the musical equivalent of looking back on one’s life, remembering the rough and joyous parts, then smiling and saying “huh, it was good, wasn’t it?”

[Thenextphasemusic]

That last demo was just absolutely beautiful, love the composition!

[maevd]

Nahre Sol!!! this is going to sound ridiculously paradoxical, but I have to save your videos to my “Watch Later” as soon as I see you post because otherwise it would be like eating all my favorite meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 🥸🤩 Your content is the highlight of my day 💛💛💛

[andremaranhao]

Holy smokes, Nahre just gets better and better…as if that was even possible!

[sandscribbler]

When Nahre turned Pachelbel's Canon into "Pachelbelle's" canon, the comparison helped me better understand some of what makes Hisaishi's music different. Perhaps I've heard his music before without being aware of it. But now that I know a little more about what makes his music work, I want to listen to him more intentionally.

[LangKuoch]

Joe Hisaishi is touring right now and is coming to my city in June. When I found out, I nearly screamed...his music has been a huge part of my life since the late 90s.

I got pretty decent seats (all the best seats sold out pretty quickly) but honestly I'm just really excited to hear him and the orchestra live.

Thanks Nahre for again doing such a wonderful and detailed analysis of his music...bravo 👏

[aghaanantyab]

Please make a whole 5 minute composition with the style of Ghibli

[TytoAlpha]

Hisaishi’s scores have such an impact on me and your analysis captured their essence so poignantly I was just crying the whole video

[nimrodtomoren]

Oh man, that last bit of music at 12:10 brought me to tears. Thank you. Would love to hear a full piece, if you should one day write it, there's so much that can be developed from that beautiful buildup

[j-dub]

How did you know I needed this?! Can Ennio Moriconne be next? Joe and Ennio are my two favorite film composers. They set a mood like no one else.

[truecuckoo]

I love how the video turned out! A lot of feelings bubbling up 💙 Out of your own pieces, I think the last one was the one that felt most "whole" to me. And the first one definitely had an extremely recognisable touch of Ghibli. Lovely video 🙏🏼

I can't say how much Ghibli's music has influenced my own melodic playing style. Probably more than I realise. And also other Japanese composers in the gaming industry like Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger). They share some of the same characteristics I would say.

[aneski]

I don't claim to have understood even half of the concepts you went through, but this was an extremely interesting video to watch regardless.