I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to stand in the middle of the forest on a misty morning and see Totoro appear from between the trees. There’s something peaceful about him. Something that makes you feel like everything is okay, even when it isn’t.
Sometimes, I would sit outside, thinking he’d come by. That he’d stand there with his big leaf umbrella, looking as calm as ever. I thought, maybe he was just hiding because I didn’t know the right way to call him. I thought if I could just make the right sound… not a human voice, but something natural and beautiful… He might just peek out from behind the trees, curious. Sometimes I’d sit on my porch during light rain, listening to the drops tapping the roof and the ground, imagining Totoro sitting next to me with his little leaf hat, blinking slowly, just existing there. No words needed. Then he does this.
For this audio challenge, Character Bird Calls, the task was to create a “call” for a character using only sounds. No words, no voices. At first, I thought about using wind chimes or temple bells, but the more I thought about Totoro’s world, the more I realized he wouldn’t come to artificial sounds. Totoro feels like the kind of spirit who listens to the unique parts of nature. He likes the sounds of things that are alive and not man made.
So I created what I call the Totoro’s Nature “Whistle”.
I started by making each sound play on its own. First, I added the quiet, irregular sounds of two acorns dropping onto the forest floor. Then came the soft patter of rain falling on leaves because Totoro always appears when it rains. After that, I brought in the gentle forest water stream. Finally, I added the sound of wind brushing through the forest, rustling bushes and branches. It’s background noise if you don’t pay attention to it. Once I had each sound placed separately, I began layering them together. I stacked the acorn drops, the rain, the stream, and the wind so that all four played at the same time. To my surprise, even without heavy edits, they blended beautifully. It felt so peaceful and natural like I was sitting in Totoro’s forest and listening to the world breathe around me. I believe Totoro would respond to this call not because it doesn’t feel demanding. It blends with what he loves, which is nature’s hidden music. He’s curious about anything that feels alive and real. Maybe he would appear holding his umbrella above his head, blinking those big eyes at me in that slow calm way. Maybe he wouldn’t say anything. He would just stand there for a while. And that would be enough.
