Music stories
Chitose’s soundtrack contains 36 instrumental pieces, each with a small story of its own. There are no vocals, so you can listen while reading or writing. Some tracks open up through progress and achievements.
Entries with a poetic or literary connection include a link to the original passage and its source.
This page introduces the music and its imagery; website playback is not available yet. For using the music in streams or videos, see the music section of the FAQ.
Theme
Chitose
Chitose’s theme: lively and gentle, with an occasional touch of playfulness.
Literary sources: Celestial Fox
Chitose Variation
The same theme takes a different path: more expansive and stately, with a sense of distance. Layers gather and brighten, then return gently to the opening melody.
From morning to night
Morning
Day is just breaking, and everything in the room is still light. Scattered notes gradually become phrases, like noticing the daylight before slowly getting up.
Tea Song
Like taking your time over a pot of tea. Guzheng and piano answer each other across spacious phrases, with an occasional low guqin reply. The pauses leave room to settle into the moment.
Wind Chimes Under the Eaves
A patch of shade beneath the afternoon eaves; a breeze brushes past summer. Clear notes answer one another across little spaces, inviting you to sit still.
Playing with Butterflies
Chitose reaches for a butterfly, then softens her movement rather than startle it. The melody draws close and drifts away, its delight tempered by care. A little closer is enough to make her happy.
The Fox and the Cat
Chitose offers a small invitation. The cat answers a beat later, and they begin to play, one following the other. A little studied composure under the cuteness, then a comfortable pause together.
Cat at Play
A cat lies still, suddenly reaches out a paw, circles around, and stops as though nothing happened. Its starts and pauses suggest a private logic. The Chinese title uses an old affectionate name for cats.
Literary sources: Cat at Play
Little Discoveries
Chitose peeks into an unfamiliar place, then follows a small curiosity inside. Each corner brings another discovery, and she looks back to beckon you along.
Cat Steps
A light, elegant turn on tiptoe. After a little leap, the melody stretches out: playful, but still composed.
Chasing Shadows
Chitose chases afternoon shadows for a few steps, then pauses to find the next patch of light. Small surprises arrive, but the movement always finds a comfortable rest.
Chasing the Wind
A little run into the breeze opens up the view. The feeling is easy and alert; the steps stay steady, with no need to hurry.
Breeze on the Brow
A small task has gone well. A secret smile slips out, then gives way to an innocent face. A playful sway, light and well measured.
Milk Tea, Oranges, Sunshine
An afternoon sip of milk tea lets the body relax while the mind stays bright. A long melody stretches, then gives a little skip at the end, like the fresh scent that rises when an orange is peeled.
Five Tones
The traditional tones gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu each have a small motif of their own. Yangqin, cello, and guitar let the phrases enter in turn and gradually overlap, gathering into a warm, flowing whole.
Literary sources: Five Tones
Hidden Sweets
Chitose has hidden a sweet and tries to look innocent, though she can barely suppress a smile. A phrase deliberately leaves out a note, only to supply it at the end. Cute, without a fuss.
Sun Shower
Fine rain begins while the sun is still out. A slight wistfulness floats through the brightness, like smiling at a memory that briefly softens the heart, before the air clears again.
Fisherman’s Song
Open water, and a boat moving slowly toward a familiar shore. Two distant phrases answer one another like fishers calling across the water, carrying the satisfaction of a day’s work done.
Ochre
The reddish brown of sunset on clay: warm in feeling, plain, and substantial. The steps are supple and steady, with a quiet vitality.
Joyful Gathering
Warm lights gather familiar people, and Chitose joins their delight. A tableful of little joys becomes a melody: lively, with room for everyone to come closer.
Brush to Paper
The first stroke lands, and scattered thoughts begin to take shape. The melody follows lifting the brush, pausing, and writing on: the steady satisfaction of giving one thing your attention.
Ink
Night deepens little by little, leaving only the task on the desk. A few notes spread like ink: deep and settled.
Moonlight Variation
Inspired by the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Slow piano triplets flow beneath gentle guzheng replies, creating a quiet, moonlit atmosphere with a trace of wistfulness.
The seasons
Spring Poems
Opening a window in the morning seems to wake the whole spring. The melody unfolds in a long breath while other voices enter one by one: bright and soft, never noisy.
Summer Theatre
A small summer conversation: pipa speaks lightly and bassoon answers at leisure. Their melodies trade places, briefly overlap, then find a shared rhythm—playful and gently theatrical.
Autumn Journal
Harvest is over, and the bustle settles into time for looking back. The melody first tells a whole thought, then alters or takes away a little within the familiar. Quiet and grounded, without urging tears.
Winter Expanse
Distant snow is white and still, but a little warmth is already close by, as though a small lamp had been lit beside your seat. Winter remains outside. Nothing momentous happens, yet time has passed.
Spring days
Spring Outing
A walk on a clear day, with light steps. Short, skipping phrases gradually open out. Bright and at ease, with no crowd needed for a good mood.
Borrowing the Spring Breeze
A small piece of time quietly reclaimed from a busy day, with a pleased sense of getting away with it. The melody sometimes moves a step ahead, then settles back into the pace.
Spring Rain All Night
Spring rain lasts through the night outside; inside, a lamp and an unfinished book remain. The music flows softly, with the coolness of a clear night and the comfort of staying indoors.
Literary sources: All Night, Listening to the Spring Rain
Small Contentment
Not everything has to be done perfectly today. Small things already bring satisfaction. The melody rises and settles like a quiet smile. Xiaoman is the solar term when grain begins to fill but has not yet ripened.
Literary sources: Small Contentment
Legends
The Weaver
At first there are only threads with different temperaments: some skipping, some flowing, some quietly present. They learn to leave room for one another; earlier fragments are recognized later, weaving a world that is ordered and rich.
Qingqiu
The foxes’ homeland: ancient, vast, spiritual, and dignified, while retaining a fox spirit’s liveliness. The melody moves slowly, opening layer by layer before resting on a broad horizon.
Literary sources: Qingqiu
White Jade Capital of Heaven
Clouds pass and the view widens. A white-jade city of immortals suddenly appears: towers reach toward the horizon, immortals pass through streets that still hold the warmth of everyday life. A deep, clear bell leaves a long resonance.
Literary sources: White Jade Capital of Heaven
Mountains
A path is made one step at a time. Each return of the theme reaches a little farther; from a higher place, more peaks and more of the way ahead become visible. Grounded and weighty, with arrival never quite the end.
All the Sounds of Heaven and Earth
As tasks are set down, a world hidden by busyness gradually becomes clear. Scattered thoughts stop pulling against one another and form long, breathing lines, each voice with a place of its own. At its broadest, it feels like opening every window.
Literary sources: All the Sounds of Heaven and Earth