Analyzing“Sesshoumaru and Rin’s Theme” and “Setsuna’s Violin”

Introduction:

So I’ve seen a lot of posts about the comparison between “Setsuna’s Lullaby” and the “Sesshoumaru and Rin” theme from the OG series. I thought I’d take a crack at providing some thoughts and notes à la music theory/history.

TLDR parts are UNDERLINED - if you aren’t interested in music theory/harmony, skip to these parts!

Fair disclaimer - ya girl is (very loosely defined) a classically trained pianist but unfortunately ( in her youth) quit violin after like 2 years of hell - so she’s not comfortable with analyzing instrumental elements. This is solely going to be melody based. She also hasn’t touched music theory/composition in roughly a decade so she’s very rusty at all this. This is just for fun - any experts out there, please roast me/correct me.

The compositional theory is going to be on the first four measures of each song (for the most part.) I don’t have time to do a full analysis of all the scores.

Keys

“Setsuna’s Violin” is in D minor:

So classical composers LOVE D minor for the ANGST.

Does this mean good news for us SessRinners?

At the moment, I would hesitantly say no. Many classical pieces composed in D minor are for requiems, (sad-death-music stuff like dirges and music for mourning etc.) There are more fast paced D minor pieces (etudes/fugues etc.) but I find that it’s very hard to shake off a melancholic feel with this key.

Now, modern day music uses D minor a wee bit less and in less angsty ways. It’s a key often used to invoke memory. ((I don’t really listen to that much pop music - so I unfortunately don’t have any relevant examples.)

If any of you have watched Anastasia ( the movie or the musical), “Once Upon a December” is probably the best reference. The tonality of the piece is also similar enough to Setsuna’s lullaby and you’ll see the “journey to the past” relevance come up very frequently.

Recap: As a key, D minor is at one extremity, a sorrowful key; at the other, it is, at the very least, pensive/whimsical/wistful.

Sesshoumaru and Rin’s theme is in G major:

Now, this one’s more fun. I’m 90 percent sure this theme is G major. (There’s a part that had me thinking that it *might* be E minor but - eh. It’s a pretty *bright* piece so I’m inclined to go with a major key.)

G major also has a whimsical feel - but in comparison to D minor, it is a way more cheerful key. On one hand, that’s because it is obviously a major key (major-happy, minor-sad). On the other hand, G major has been used a lot for more … pastoral-esque music? (Think fields and frolicking.) It’s a subdued yet assertive key that also really speaks to sentimentality. Sounds like Sesshoumaru and Rin, no?

((In liturgical/ church music, G major is also frequently used in music about salvation/redemption/ hope. This might be intentional.))

Compositional Significance ( Harmony - if ya wanna be technical)

So - How are these two pieces similar? And how are they different?

The reason why it’s important to have a “home-key” is because each key has a scale - which then forms the basis of the composer’s melody. There are a bunch of conventional ( and unconventional) patterns that form in music - and this is done through looking at the “steps/chords” of the key (diatonic scale). ( Example: C major scale - do/c re/d mi/e fa/f so/g la/a ti/b do/c.)

Typically, compositions use the piece’s key and will start the score with either a tonic chord (I) or a dominant chord (V) as the first note.

I’m gonna start with S and R’s theme first.

Sesshoumaru and Rin’s theme:

First off - this song really invokes dialogue - spoken through the two instruments. Rin speaks through the flute and Sesshoumaru through the “plucked” instrument. ( And I’m a failure of a musician because I can’t immediately recognize what kind of instrument it is - it sounds a lot like plucking/pizzicato on a violin??!!??? Maybe a Pipa?? There’s no metallic tang you’d traditionally get from a shamisen …. )

Kaoru Wada threw that previous tonic/dominant trope out that window and “said nah, let’s start with the subtonic chord (II on the scale) - the la/a note.” Now, I can’t dive into his brilliant mind and pull out *why* he’d choose to do so but I’ve two guesses that play well into one another. ( G major would be G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G)

Starting on the “second note” lends a very unconventional air to the piece because you don’t have a conventionally dominant leading note and this subverts expectations because you literally have to “step” into the melody. Now, the leading melody of the song is the flute and is “spoken” by Rin - the first note of la/a then has to “step into” so/g (the “main” note) - and then jumps into a flurry of notes that lift the melody higher in the form of (quadruple)/ four eighth notes. The first two notes also vary in length, with the augmented first note being held longer and then jumping into the so/g eighth note. Immediately, you get a sense that this is a dance. It’s not a brusque, assertive melody and the mind should immediately pick up on the back and forth nature of the melody. It’s also a very gentle melody and the pattern of the notes is both sweet and playful - much like Rin.

On to the accompaniment: The plucked instrument is a constant in the “background.” This is Sesshoumaru. It’s a more statuesque sound and keeps pace constantly through the entire song. There’s no digression - it literally forms the rhythm/pace of the sound through a repetition of two eighth-note triplets per measure - with rests in between. ( This is a very blatant contrast to the flute part, which dips and wavers, and changes in melody.) Thus, the accompaniment provides a deep sense of stability and lends support to the flute - which mirrors the roles of the characters they represent. I think that it’s also really interesting and worth pointing out that despite the deeper sound and consistently, this melody does not ever overtake the flute. It would be very easy to do so - the pace inherently allows a listener’s brain to pick up on the consistency and “trick” the brain into prioritizing the sound. Kaoru Wada, however, chooses to avoid this through soft staccatos ( sharp, shorter plucking/playing). This initially confused me because I wouldn’t typically associate the staccato motif with Sesshomaru. However, with the rests, it creates a softer distinction - and shows a more nuanced side to Sesshoumaru. I wouldn’t call Sesshoumaru “playful” necessarily, but this is close to it. Overall, the effect comes out to a very balanced relationship between the two melodies.

((A lot of “couple” OST’s will play up this trope of “dialogue.” My favourite example: The “Lost Elf” theme from Dragon Age Inquisition: Trespasser *spoiler alert* which uses a cello and a violin to play out a conversation between two characters who were once friends or lovers, and are now enemies. Fun stuff. John Williams also does this a couple of Star Wars OSTs.))

Setsuna’s Violin

As I pointed out above, the key of this piece is D minor. The first note is re/d - therefore we begin with the first/tonic chord of the key, which then leads to a la/a note. The current progression of notes goes I to V on the scale. After these steps, the melody goes into 4 eighth notes - much like the S and R theme. This is traditional- but also quite bold/strong of an opening for a melody that's been considered a lullaby. A fair amount of lullabies will start with repetition of a couple of notes before continuing on with the melody - this is not the case.

With this piece, the music leads into a variation that has some repetition. The first four bars: you’ll see that measures 2 and 4 vary while 1 and 3 all have the same quarter note- quarter note - 4 eighth note patterns. Now, the variation appears when you consider the melody. The first pair of measures goes first note - up to the V note (la/a) - 4 steps down - and then up - up- down. The note it ends on is one lower than the tonic/1st note. The second pair goes: note - leap up (same amount - V note) and then up more - than the 4 down. The second measure is a different melody and goes V chord - down 2 - up 1 and then up another back to V. This song is less of a “dialogue” in comparison to the other - but, this variation really brings this story telling-esque motif into play. There’s less of an “answer and reply” and more of a linear course of action that happens.

It’s also worth noting that the piano accompaniment, like “Sesshoumaru’s accompaniment” in the previous piece is constant - with variation in note length on the second measures. Now, this might be simply because your more conventional “modern” music ( regardless of whether it’s pop or instrumental OST’s) it’s just more convenient to have a series of consistent chords. I’ll touch upon this a bit more in the second part though.

Comparison:

Music is something that your brain really processes in a subconscious manner. Therefore whenever there are similarities, it’s easy to pick up that there is repetition - but also hard to pinpoint exactly where. In the measure's below, I've colour-coded the portions with these examples.

The la/a note- Blue

The 4 step-eighth notes -Red

Beginning and Ending degrees - Green

Accompaniment - Purple

For the beginning measures of both pieces, the most obvious similarity is the la/a note (Blue). It is the “crowning” note ( the highest note) and the rest of the notes “fall around it.”

Let’s compare the first two measures of both pieces:

S and R: Starts on “la/a” (Blue) -steps down to “so/g” - 4 steps up (Red) ( like a ladder) - then jumps that octave to the upper “la/a.”

Next measure: a couple of warbling steps up and down for playfulness.

Setsuna’s Violin: Starts on “re/d” - immediately jumps up to the “la/a” note - then ladders down 4 steps. (Red)

Next measure: a couple of paced steps up and down by short degrees.

The overall effect: Setsuna’s Violin is more solemn. The first note and the last note of the two measures are re/d- do/c (Green). Next to one another. This brings the measures to a more solemn tone - the close degrees means that the song “progresses” in a more “formal-esque” manner.

The S and R themes, in contrast, has leaps that are not “resolved” and brought close to the OG first note. The first note is la/a and the last is mi/e. (Green) This lends a distinct air of cheerfulness because the degree between them sounds bright.

I’ve highlighted the similarities in the images below - Colour coded according to above.

The other significant comparison I wanted to make is on the accompaniment. (Purple) I talked about the consistency of the beat for both pieces.

However, with the “symbolism” behind many compositional techniques, a consistent series of notes like this can also symbolize the passing of time - which is a very big thing for our dear SessRin couple considering ya know, mortality-immortality, a moment-eternity etc.

S and R’s theme has the staccato accompaniment with the rests in between. All the notes are equal. This creates a leisurely pace - rests can be afforded; there’s no rush.

Setsuna’s Violin is different. The accompaniment becomes paced. Instead of the entire accompaniment having notes of equal length, you’ll see that the base notes are arranged eighth-eighth-quarter eight-eight-quarter. This means the note lengths are short-short-long. This lends to the song in a more “rushed” manner - a beat is formed; there is purpose and time is moving forward.

Now, what does this all mean?

While the two pieces are most assuredly not the same piece/ mirrored images of one another, I don’t think Kaoru Wada would have added such similar motifs unintentionally. I would arguably say that Setsuna’s lullaby is a loose inversion of Sesshoumaru and Rin’s theme. We see that both pieces are formed up off very similar sets of note lengths and patterns. However, in order to distinguish between cheerfulness and solemnity, the patterns of the chords shift. The arrangement of how the high and low notes are also (loosely inverted) in order to ensure that the sound invokes different moods.

Closing composition thoughts to keep in mind:

Composers never do anything unintentionally.

The process of composing is also insanely different for every single composer; some composers will choose a key first (to suitably situate the “mood” of the music); others will form a rough melody ( what goes up, and what goes down) and then transcribe it into a key.

Most musicians/composers are also trained classically - and therefore follow a very “Westernized” musical education. ( This is the unfortunate truth - even internationally.) Kaoru Wada himself has composed a lot of more conventionally-European sounding pieces too. Therefore, you could probably assume that some of the compositional techniques ( choosing a key, chord progression) are probably from the classical training.

Credit to claudia.davida for the “Sesshoumaru and Rin” score and to malickdiopdaf for the “Setsuna’s Violin” score!