So, I love music. I can play a few instruments and a few different genres and I wrote an admittedly pretty bad song for my last project. However this time I’ve chosen to compose a song related to the love suicide theme of bunraku theatre and Chikamatsu’s Love Suicides’ at Amijima. The song I composed has no lyrics, I realize that the music in the play sometimes incorporates throat singing but there was no way I was going to be able to pull that off. This is also certainly an Americanized take on the idea. The reason for that is of course that I don’t have a Shamisen nor do I know how to play one. I tried using the banjo aswell to get that more twangy sound but it just didn’t work for me. The guitar tends to be my go to anyways just because it’s so versatile.
The video above shows a quick example of what Bunraku music sounds like, they’re also playing Shamisen’s and you can hear the sort of twang that I was talking about. However I did try to replicate it to an extent by letting individual notes ring out longer and gently tapping the vibrating string with my finger nail. It’s certainly not the same but it does make an interesting sound that I’m not sure my phone microphone was really able to pick up. I also tuned by guitar to drop D for a deeper and more emotional sound in my opinion. The song itself is set up in a few different parts that I’ve blended together for the sake of unity. It starts out low and repetitive, I would’ve made that section a minute or so in the actual play but I didn’t want to make it too awful to listen to regularly so I shortened it to a few rounds in the recording I’ll post here. Then the song moves into more walking notes, to build movement and flow for the scene. I play around with moving up and down in tone and speed to allow the scene to play out a full range of emotions. I definitely wanted a lot of emotion to come across in the piece and I think I’ve succeeded in that. The ending picks up a bit and then slows down drastically. I play chords at that point but let every note ring out of its own with a few wrong notes thrown in to make it a little unsettling. After all, it’s playing behind a suicide.
All together I’m happy with the finished product and I hope you enjoy listening to it. If I could have done anything differently I would have liked to use the correct instrument or maybe had more people playing with me. This is a very lead guitar kind of playing here so it would’ve been nice to have a rhythm guitar backing or a bass. I’m not sure whether or not a constant rhythm guitar playing in the back would sound good or not but a bass guitar to add to the flow and make some punchier notes would be nice.
Sprockets and Springes 
Wow, this was amazing. I love that you tackled the music side of bunraku puppet plays – which I feel is slightly overlooked. I also have to wonder what it would have sounded like with more instruments in the background. When the song started, I vividly imagined Koharu and Jihei running away, walking toward the river and forest. It sounded sad, melancholy, and maybe a little uncertain? It gave me goosebumps to hear this. I could definitely hear that twang, but you’re right in the sense that it has a bit of an American spin on it. I vibed with this. I feel like it really gets the feeling of the music and scene across in a way that’s familiar to us.
Also, for the record, I don’t think any part of it sounded awful.
I loved every second of this, it was very well done. To me it seemed to invoke the gritty end of a western film as well, which I liked. Very good song.
This is really awesome! This is a super creative route and I love that you chose to incorporate something you dabble in to this project. You chose to play this a certain way, as you said above to make it seem unsettling because it is taking place behind a love suicide, and I think you made that point perfectly, it is a really good song, and it definitely feels like it could play behind that scene.
This is really cool! I definitely think you captured the rather somber and emotional tones while mixing in suspense and intrigue. It would be really interesting to listen to this music while reading or witnessing the scene. I think music holds a lot of weight when it comes to mood and emotional experience, so this definitely adds to the scenery in a major way. I feel like the song kind of moves along with the story, which I think is what you wanted and it’s executed really well. There are tempo changes and tonal changes that can really be congruent with the emotional rollercoaster that is The Love Suicides at Amijima. I already found myself teary-eyed when reading the play, and with this music playing behind it I think the emotion would’ve been even more impactful. Music is a very powerful tool, and I think you used it well here. Overall, this is a really cool project! Thank you for sharing it!