What Defines My Musical Aesthetics?
In this reflection, I will summarise the development of my musical aesthetics by reviewing how my style has evolved, the influences that have shaped my work, and the ways in which I analyse my pieces to better understand my musical voice. I started this mini project in late May and completed it towards the end of July. During this period, I composed three original pieces that I documented on Tumblr, capturing both the creative process and the gradual evolution of each work. For those who followed along, the development of ideas and the shifts in direction were shared in real time.
As the project progressed, I came to realise that I had been subconsciously drawing inspiration from the animated films and Asian fantasy dramas I grew up with. These included Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and Whisper of the Heart, as well as Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name and Mamoru Hosoda’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I was also influenced by fantasy dramas such as The Starry Love, Ashes of Love, and Eternal Love: Ten Miles of Peach Blossom. These works have long shaped my sense of pacing, tension, and texture, along with a deep interest in emotional storytelling. Many of these were shared experiences with my family, and I have always found the soundtracks especially captivating. To this extent, themes like fantasy, strong emotions, and the connection between reality and imagination had influenced how I approached narrative and emotional depth in my music.
Tsubaki – The Camellia Flower, on the Art of Letting Go
Tsubaki is built around cyclical melodic motifs, starting with G♯ as the tonal centre and shifting to C♯ in the chorus to reflect a change in mood and direction. The piece often uses pentatonic notes to create a sense of openness within each key. Through harmonic layering, the recurring motifs develop a cinematic quality, adding depth and atmosphere. The right-hand piano melodies are supported by slow, three-note patterns in the left hand, which cross over into a higher register above the right hand. This creates a feeling of temporal suspension, as if time is slowing down around the protagonist. In the middle section, the texture is reduced to just piano and harp, giving the music a more reflective quality. The full orchestration returns in the final section, representing a transformation. Overall, the piece explores the theme of letting go of a past self to make space for growth and change.
Hanae – The Lotus Flower, on a Return to Self
Hanae is built around open-spanning triads and wide intervallic spacing, creating a broad and spacious sound. The harmonic progression moves from an A major triad (A–E–C♯) to B major, then to C♯ minor, before returning to B major, establishing a clear tonal direction while maintaining a stable tonal centre. The melody follows a cyclical pattern of ascending and descending phrases, supported by meditative ostinatos in the accompaniment, which reinforce the piece’s formal unity. Deliberate intervallic leaps, sequencing and fragmentation, introduce contrast and highlight moments of reflection. The texture expands through layered elements, including ethereal (dream) vocals and, later, panpipes and breath flutes, broadening the sonic space and allowing harmonic and melodic motifs to interact in a dynamic way. The piece explores themes of cultivating inner peace and mindful presence.
Mizuki – The Moonflower, on Self-Empowerment
Mizuki begins with a strong rhythmic bass figure, creating a clear contrast to the stillness found in Hanae. Above this, arpeggiated textures build tension and drive the music forward. The ethereal vocals return with greater intensity, blending into increasingly layered textures. Through harmonic and motivic development, the piece emphasises themes of self-reliance and conscious choice. Careful dynamic shaping guides the listener through cycles of tension and release, culminating in a peak moment featuring cascading arpeggios and virtuosic passages. This final section represents a transition from uncertainty to purposeful determination. Overall, the piece explores ideas of self-empowerment and taking ownership of one’s path.
Looking back on this project, I have developed a clearer understanding of my musical style and how it is beginning to take shape. At the start, I asked myself whether my music fits more closely with minimalism or neoclassicism. Minimalism emphasises repetition, simple harmonies, and steady pulses to create meditative effects. Neoclassical principles, on the other hand, focus on clarity, structured phrasing, melodic beauty, expressive sentiment, and the combination of acoustic and electronic instruments. This comparison helped me reflect more carefully on how I compose, and led me to analyse each of my three pieces in greater depth.
Through this creative journey, I discovered that my compositional style is mostly inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s structural clarity, Claude Debussy’s harmonic colour, Joe Hisaishi’s melodic storytelling, and Hans Zimmer’s cinematic soundscapes. This mini-album have given me the chance to explore themes of artistic freedom, emotional growth, and self-expression, while also linking my music to visual and narrative influences. This process has helped me better understand my developing musical identity, and I plan to build on these insights in my future work. Thank you so much for following along with my creative journey and supporting my music! I truly appreciate it. ^_^