{"id":1430122,"date":"2021-11-13T11:00:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/1430122\/"},"modified":"2021-11-13T11:00:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T11:00:11","slug":"merry-go-round-of-life-howls-moving-castle-piano-joe-hisaishi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/1430122\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry-Go-Round of Life &#8211; Howl&#8217;s Moving Castle [Piano] \/ Joe Hisaishi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  width=\"580\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lB4PRX737-0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<br \/>\nSheet music \u2192 https:\/\/mymusic.st\/animenzzz\/48839<\/p>\n<p>Merry-Go-Round of Life is probably one of the most famous Anime Soundtracks which has ever been composed and I spent a lot of time to think of the best way to create a satisfying piano arrangement. <\/p>\n<p>0:00 Introduction<br \/>\n0:53 Variation 1 \u201cTempo di valse\u201d<br \/>\n2:15 Intermezzo<br \/>\n2:40 Variation 2 \u201cScherzo\u201d<br \/>\n3:25 Variation 3 \u201cDolcissimo\u201d<br \/>\n4:31 Finale<\/p>\n<p>I started by re-watching the movie again and analyzing as many scenes as possible to gather inspiration for my arrangement. I realized that the famous main melody has been used in 12 different occasions in the movie and each of them are arranged in a different atmosphere by the brilliant composer Joe Hisaishi. <\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the 12 original soundtracks, I decided to create a variation arrangement, showcasing different moods of the music. The arrangement structure is mostly based on the official video \u201cMerry-Go-Round of Life\u201d on Joe Hisaishi YouTube channel. I only added a new variation in 3:25 and extended the finale in 4:31. <\/p>\n<p>Since the title of the song is quite literally \u201cMerry-Go-Round of Life\u201d, I designed the flow of music to retell the life story of Howl.<\/p>\n<p>0:13 A simple melody describing Howl&#8217;s childhood and his humble beginnings.<br \/>\n0:57 Once he has reached Adulthood, he is being faced by the reality of society as a professional wizard. Symbolized by the complicated octaves in the right hand and multiple voicings.<br \/>\n2:06 Finally met Sophie and slowly develops a romance with her. The left hand is playing a different harmonization now, this time in a major key.<br \/>\n2:40 This playful segment represents the various adventures he is having with Sophie and the other characters. Interestingly, it also reminds me of the symphonic poem \u201cThe Sorcerer&#8217;s Apprentice\u201d from Paul Dukas.<br \/>\n3:23 Howl is finally opening his heart to Sophie and showed her the flower garden &#8211; his secret hideout from his childhood days. Represented by sorrowful piano notes in the high register.<br \/>\n4:24 Gathering his determination to do the right thing. The \u201cintroduction\u201d melody from the very beginning is being cited here again to build up the music.<br \/>\n4:31 Finale and conclusion of his story with a virtuoso octave passage at the end. <\/p>\n<p>The final chord (E6\/9sus2) in the original song is especially interesting, because it is an open chord without a definite conclusion in the music. I have a feeling, Joe Hisaishi created this chord on purpose to let the viewers know, that Howl&#8217;s story will still continue &#8211; similar to a Merry-Go-Round which continues to spin around.<\/p>\n<p>It is hard to describe which composer has influenced me the most for this arrangement. I\u2019d say I was inspired by the rich texture of Liszt music, the sensitivity of Chopin\u2019s music and the romantic harmonization in Rachmaninoff music. But most importantly, I had the desire to tell a story with the music alone. Perhaps this is what motivates me to continue creating Arrangements in the &#8220;Animenz style&#8221;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Well then, thank you reading my \u201cAnimenz explains\u201d column this week! I hoped you liked my analysis and gained some insight behind the creation of this arrangement!<\/p>\n<p>See you next time again!<\/p>\n<p>Animenz<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*<br \/>\nAnimenz Sheet Music Bookshop is Now Open!<br \/>\n\u3010 https:\/\/animenz-shop.com \u3011<br \/>\nVolume 1 and Volume 2 are on sale!<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s a compilation of my past 12 years of arrangement works!<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*<br \/>\n\ud83d\udce3My Social Media<\/p>\n<p>Follow me on Twitter!<br \/>\n<a class=\"twitter-timeline\" data-width=\"770\" data-height=\"1000\" data-dnt=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Animenzzz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tweets by Animenzzz<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nI am using Instagram as well!<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/www.instagram.com\/animenz_official\/<br \/>\nMy Facebook page:<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Animenz<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*<br \/>\n\ud83c\udfb9Piano arrangement by Animenz<\/p>\n<p>Original Song: Merry-Go-Round of Life \/ \u4eba\u751f\u306e\u30e1\u30ea\u30fc\u30b4\u30fc\u30e9\u30f3\u30c9<br \/>\nAnime: Howl&#8217;s Moving Castle \/ \u30cf\u30a6\u30eb\u306e\u52d5\u304f\u57ce<br \/>\nPublished by: Studio Ghibli Records (2004)<br \/>\nComposed by: Joe Hisaishi<br \/>\nPerformed by:  New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*&#8212;&#8212;*<br \/>\n#ghibli #joehisaishi #merrygoroundoflife #howl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sheet music \u2192 https:\/\/mymusic.st\/animenzzz\/48839 Merry-Go-Round of Life is probably one of the most famous Ani<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1430123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4127,76377,21320,4737,75644,60537,1103,3009,2063,1597,1869,1872,8127,2095,207,582,21311],"class_list":{"0":"post-1430122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japanese-anime","8":"tag-ghibli","9":"tag-howl","10":"tag-howls-moving-castle","11":"tag-joe-hisaishi","12":"tag-main-theme","13":"tag-merry-go-round-of-life","14":"tag-ost","15":"tag-piano","16":"tag-soundtrack","17":"tag-1597","18":"tag-1869","19":"tag-1872","20":"tag-8127","21":"tag-2095","22":"tag-207","23":"tag-582","24":"tag-21311"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1430122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1430123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1430122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1430122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1430122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}