Joe Hisaishi's Incredible Harmony in "Spirited Away”

What makes Miyazaki film scores unique? Let's break down the harmony used by Joe Hisaishi (久石 譲 ) in the main theme for Spirited Away. Chords, melodies, harmonies, themes, and emotions.
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[@chanhappy9559]

Joe’s music is actually a fusion of Jazz and Debussy.

[@EvoluteCreator]

4:14 hey that spells my name

[@leonwaves]

Nooo 💀

[@fishylogic222]

Just hearing that first chord makes me so happy.

[@karmaindustrie]

Similar to "Heal the World" (first and second)

[@ColeTorque]

That G7b9 is so juicy. Thanks for doing Hisaishi, have a sub

[@stevenschelling8452]

I think that Em7b6 makes way more sense if you just consider it a Cmaj9 in first inversion. That progression of the Fmaj9 to Cmaj9 is just like the Lost Woods theme from the Zelda soundtrack; that Lydian sound is so perfect for the Miyazaki aesthetic. Great content, it’s nice to have time to ponder the voicings being used with visualizations. Keep it up.

[@leonwaves]

Steven Schelling Yes, I agree. I struggled with naming that chord especially seeing that it wasn’t functional. And Zelda.. yeah it absolutely goes well! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!

[@WiresDawson]

was hoping someone commented about this!

[@enricogiust]

I believe it’s related to all the tetracords they have in japan, they mix 4 different half scales, resulting, i.e., in a modified minor pentatonic scale. Hisaishi’s Magic is his ability to mix east and west in my opinion. He’s not afraid to show his roots

[@hazeldaniels1679]

The only time I've ever listened to someone say 'btw if your liking this video you should consider dropping a like or subscribing' and I've been like 'oh yeah of course thank you for reminding me!' Seriously a great analysis, editing the panel on the right surely took some time. While there are certain parts I would have analyzed slightly different you did a fantastic job!!

[@leonwaves]

Thank you!

[@justinwilliams3201]

This is the greatest breakdown of this song ive ever heard nd i definitely would love to learn more if how to make music like this.

[@jamescps8799]

The Chord progression is absolutely beautiful.

[@AndyChamberlainMusic]

Also you are criminally underrated

[@bambiwaddlefeet]

Totally true i was about to comment that.

[@thomasvrdr2]

Exactly what I needed. Thank you!

[@soulinsidemachine3624]

Huge work!! Thanks for this

[@ArinGokdemir]

This is amazing!

[@calebcassell3628]

i have been wanting a harmonic breakdown of this theme for a while. thank you

[@wilsonhardanta]

Love your vid! Great job!

[@alexmusic2387]

This video is gold!

[@mcw0805]

Awesome breakdown of this beautiful chord usage.

[@pikupikuseru]

I *loved* this, thank you so much for this video

[@aqandrew]

Beautiful. I just recently learned about secondary dominants and quartal/quintal voicings, and this video makes these concepts make so much sense! And the Roman numeral / functional analysis helps a lot too. Looking forward to more

[@leonwaves]

Awesome! Glad you learned a bit from the video!

[@charlottemarceau8062]

Love this soundtrack, thanks for those voicings ! X

[@larenlawson8082]

Love your videos. I hope u keep doing them 💪🏽

[@markwahanik]

Fantastic explanation, thank you for your time and effort

[@juliansolo1825]

Great analysis! Those tension chords have so much emotions, it's beautiful. Thank you for sharing

[@anglach3l]

This was amazing, I’d love to see more score breakdowns like this. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into this.

[@Tonintruand]

I just discovered your channel and woaw I love it 😍

[@MichaelMomohara]

Very nice analysis of an iconic, beautiful score!

[@WiresDawson]

really interesting video, thank you for giving me some inspiration with the cool chords. :)

[@christianeddins2904]

great video!

[@erzloh]

Your videos are absolutely brilliant, amazing knowledge sharing!

[@drewtheawesome007]

Your channel is awesome. Really helping me understand theory better. Thank you!

[@diegobuitragocamargo.7525]

Amazing analysis! I just arrived this channel and wow, it's incredible! Wish you more subscribers, you deserve them!!

[@AnonDe71]

Man! This is clearly golden information! I just trying music writing as hobby, and I finally understand basics in harmonics and arrangment! Great channel, thank you for your big job!

[@quananginh9446]

I learned a lot from your video. Thank you very much!

[@passage2enBleu]

you got a sub. i enjoy these gold panning adventures in music.

[@ji1511]

Love the harmony and analysis. Thank you,

[@leonwaves]

Awesome glad you enjoyed it!

[@mattymcfabb]

I’ve been trying to emulate this sound on piano for years and this video is exactly what I’ve been needing. Thank you and Great work 🙏

[@nelgau]

This video is wonderful. Thank you for breaking down this piece so completely. I enjoyed every moment of your explanation. I could have watched it for an hour or more. It was very helpful. :)

[@HOAMusicTW]

Plz do more of this. Thank you

[@PivasRox]

Pretty awesome vídeo. It Will help me in my compositions. Thank you, Bro!

[@dmpunk]

Dude this is the best produced video lesson I've seen on KZbin! Great explanations, chord names written, and a virtual keyboard we can see the voicings on! Superb brother and looking forward to more of these

[@starrybenchstudios]

Thank you!

[@Xplayer007]

Just started watching your channel and saw this in your uploads. Spirited Away is my favorite movie of all time and I love this breakdown.

[@yongnamii9275]

Thank you for sharing, you’re very talented and I like your style in analysing melodies 🎵

[@JeiShian]

Loved your harmony video! Thanks!

[@leonwaves]

Thanks!

[@MusicMadtm]

this is so fascinating and useful! i've never avidly listened to the music for ghibli movies but every time i hear it i'm enraptured and want to evoke that mysticism in my own composition (i'm trying to learn how to at uni 😂), so this is a super useful breakdown of it!! thanks so much :D

[@randompersonontheinterweb]

that first chord got me EVERYTIME.

[@PulyFilms]

I just discovered your channel Leon! Wow, you do an amazing job! Keep it up! This is the kind of content we harmony lovers are always looking for. I'm also a Joe Hisaishi fan so... I can't thank you enough!

[@sume3104]

thank you very much ! that was really helpfull. Great insight

[@leonwaves]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it

[@roxroe6731]

So much advanced stuff for a newbie in music...but im loving this music more because of these theory lessons. Thank you!!

[@M0tisma]

excellent vidéo ! congratulation for all your work !

[@dvill2141]

Haven’t watched yet. Already liked. Im ready

[@stevenmiller213]

love it! would love some more anime harmony breakdowns!

[@johanqin]

Wonderful breakdown! You laid it out in a very clear and efficient manner. Thanks and please keep doing what you're doing!

[@leonwaves]

Thank you!

[@Jesusllerena21]

Excelent man!! You deserve more views, continue like that! Cheers from Australia!

[@leonwaves]

Thank you! 🙏🏻

[@lostmusician]

Studio Ghibli music never fails to pierce my heart 😖 This was truly enlightening, thank you!

[@Vevemusic]

And BTW jesus effing christ your analysis is beyond crazy.. Mad work. You rock!

[@philosophersstone6584]

Amazing

[@ateliermailart3371]

Thanks. It is always better to mémorise and understand the piece of music with the chords and I was not able to find those ones. Thanks so much and have a great new year.

[@jdaklsoi3h2ueicdnsjkxz]

thanks for your video， help a lot

[@dinglebop9558]

thanks a lot fot his! Greetings from Spain!

[@Ivan_1791]

Man, that was great.

[@ygoramaro5637]

Amazing, I just arive here and I want more

[@user-dd6fm2tf2v]

This deserves a million view!!! Keep the good work brother:)

[@leonwaves]

Thank you!

[@leonwaves]

Make sure to share with others!

[@risingsun9595]

Watching this actually helped me learn the song on the piano, understanding how the chords play with each other is pretty key.

[@sondrestrmme4006]

If I'm struggling with a song, analysing the progression makes it much easier to remember, even in classical music

[@albrin]

what a great content!

[@leonwaves]

al brin thanks!

[@mikeysplace]

Thank you for translating this eitherieal language for us mortals 😢. You are a saint for sharing your knowledge.

[@MadsMikkelsenisliterallyme]

Aye, this was awesome. I'd love to see this same breakdown for Sixth Station by Joe from the same movie, Spirited Away. But fr this gave me some inspiration to play more after seeing how those chords flowed together perfectly . Thank you

[@jakewurtz1157]

One summer’s day is a beautiful and relatively simple piece.

[@kawkabbarralimara8237]

I'm sold to this channel.

[@leonwaves]

Awesome!

[@JohnNex99]

I LOVE you!

[@brendan9565]

i love this video, but i do not know anywhere close to the amount of theory i should know. This is amazing and joe hisaishi created something very close to a masterpiece in my mind

[@jeremyschoblocher1594]

I loved the breakdown of harmonic functions and seeing how the inverted chords changed the momentum of the piece. The only things I felt like could have been explained better were the roles of particular tensions. For example writing Fmaj7b5 instead of #11, and the other one that would have been helpful was the Db7(b9,#11) to G7. That second resolution works even better because it shares its 3rd and 7th like you said, but also because the tensions showed the motion of a 2-5 (Ebb or D and G.) Even so, your work was well worth a subscription.

[@byugoi]

This video was awesome and very insightful. I am a beginner pianist as a hobby and I recently discovered Studio Ghibli movies through the musical scores for them by Joe Hisaishi. I just absolutely loved the mysterious and nostalgic feeling of the songs he composed for Spirited Away, and I was inspired to learn One Summer's Day on the piano. Joe Hisaishi is an absolute genius. Even after watching your analysis, it feels like there's just a creative element to his chord choice and melody that can't be analyzed, only enjoyed.

[@binaryspirit528]

great movie

[@HOAMusicTW]

Pleas do more of This thanks

[@leamubiu]

argh, I was waiting for those last notes sprinkled after the last chord... T_T Thanks for this thorough explanation!

[@turtlezinthesky]

Subbed! More Hisaishi, please

[@thalescatao]

very good. i see other people complicating music theory. but you keep as simple as it can be

[@katdaddywolf1925]

Holy fuck this feels like every frame a painting but music to me

[@matheusranniery2298]

amo esse canal...

[@leonwaves]

Thanks!

[@xexusda9358]

I had never heard the term "quartal" to describe a chord. Interesting harmony.

[@blue.goldfish]

My GOD, I love this. Throughout pretty much the whole video I had goosebumps, from a) hearing such gorgeous chords of one of my childhood movies, and b) somewhat understanding it. I am not usually someone to beg, and as I don't know you and your channel yet, I don't know if maybe you are the content creator I've been searching for quite a while, but please - please - help us understand more of the music of ghibli films. That would be ... mind blowing, emotion wrecking, inspirational, probably. Anyway, I apologise for my outburst and wish you a good quarantine time. Stay safe. Thank you so much for this video!!!

[@leonwaves]

Absolutely! Thanks for your comment 🙏🏻

[@ryan.carneiro]

I second this! Plz upload more Studio Ghilbi music breakdowns! So much of emotions in the composition! I got goosebumps listening to the chord voicings and progression!

[@keithprescottcomposer5607]

A video i keep coming back to. I think a lot of what makes Hisaishi's music so ethereal and gives it his trademark sound is how steeped it is in the harmony of traditional Japanese music, which is all very quartal and quintal. Sideways mentioned it in a video he made on Ghibli music, but to Western ears, it sounds very ethereal and pretty, but to the Japanese ear, I imagine it sounds very much like home.

[@itismeanttobe]

i've never heard of quartal harmony and stacks and stuff like that thank you, i'm not a pianist but i love making stuff and I learn theory like this and try to practice it , im a violinist mainly

[@lepistanuda]

The “piano stories” version really does something else, Lydian tension vibes

[@goodkidjonesy]

Thats it.... I'M LEARNING THIS SONG

[@Liravin]

wtf is this a reupload or does this masterpiece analysis really have less than 10K views

[@pascallengagne966]

For me the second chord is a C Maj 9 (with the C on the upper voice), it makes sense with the F maj 9

[@Themafiacheesenate]

Can i get your seal of approval on how well you did this theory even using proper names such as chords, fourths and leaps etc. seriously this made me understand my theory so much more. Question though which movement is primarily used strong, or weak

[@kummer45]

This man understand and speaks music as his first language. His comprehension is beyond anything I've seen. This man IS a teacher, no incorrect. He's an oracle.

[@melohner5803]

arigatooo

[@mathstrickerwithfaca]

Hi thank you so much for all of these educational videos. I've always wanted to learn more about harmony of film scores and i'm glad I finally had the chance to. :) Are there any books/materials you recommend for writing film scores? Quite interested in exploring that someday. Thank you!

[@leonwaves]

I would say get your hands on as many published film scores available as possible (like Hal Leonard publishing John Williams scores). As well as scores by Debussy, Ravel, and The Planets by Holst.

[@TiffanyNg100]

I will never ! Be in my lifetime, to be able to analyze Joe Hirashi song. But thanks to you and other talented musician, I could at least have a pick behind the curtain and appreciate it

[@taliesinmusic]

brilliant video. any tips on how to start learning to modulate

[@lupash]

First two chords truly remind me of Stravinsky first two chords of his Serenade in A second movement (Romanza)

[@Liravin]

do the mii channel theme next plz

[@AndyChamberlainMusic]

is there a difference between predominant and subdominant? I've always heard the IV referred to as the subdominant

[@leonwaves]

Andy Chamberlain Music IV is always the subdominant. A predominant is any chord that resolves to a dominant (can be a IV or ii or II or even bVI) I might’ve loosely interchanged the two here, but it is important to make that distinction!

[@AndyChamberlainMusic]

@@leonwaves ah ok thanks

[@chorhanglam]

I interpret the chromaticism in section C as a mode change to C minor or Eb instead of Bb.

[@nomannic1]

1:27 this exact chord and voicing (Fmaj 9) is used in miphas theme in breath of the wild! 😁

[@em-kf2tf]

Please b my music teacher

[@ForkySeven]

Joe Hisaishi is like if Debussy and Gershwin had a baby