Today, I'm thrilled to be hosting Celani Mori, the lovely friend and talented musician behind "The Edge of a Melody," a soundtrack for The Edge of a Knife and Other Stories! She's also composed a companion piece for Unexpected Encounters of a Draconic Kind and Other Stories, and she's posted other gorgeous work on her Youtube page. Definitely check out her page and give her a follow!

Celani kindly answered some questions for me about all the work that went into composing and producing "The Edge of a Melody," and I'm excited to share her answers with you! She also sent me the artwork she created to accompany the music, and you will find some of those pieces scattered throughout the interview.

Now, without further ado, join me as we pick the brain of a musician...

Question 1: What was your favourite part about composing this piece?

Surprising you. ;)

I didn’t breathe a word when I started working on “The Edge of a Melody.” Now, of course, I can confess musical machinations began as soon as I finished reading the Unreleased Beta Version.

But it takes a long time to make a single when you do everything yourself from ground zero as I do—composing, rehearsing, recording, editing, releasing—even without something going wrong or real life getting in the way.

Projects I love have gotten postponed before.

So I made a little deal with myself. I wouldn’t tell the esteemed authoress about the unnamed single’s rise to life until I’d finished writing the score. Until I was sure it would make it to the premiere.

I came very close to spilling the beans so many times. As in “opening messages and staring at them for a while without typing anything” close.

But thinking about what your reaction might be and plotting the perfect moment to spring the surprise was the best part. It kept me going on the nights when the notes weren’t falling into place and progress felt insanely slow. Every time I got frustrated, I’d remind myself: Beka’s gonna be so happy.

(Beka's Note: Dear Reader, I was, indeed, surprised. And very, very Happy Indeed. Much flailing ensued.)

Question 2: What part did you struggle with most?

“The Edge of a Melody” is composed of 10 themes, each approximately 15 seconds in length.

There were days when I got stuck. When the perfectionism and procrastination joined hands and blocked any feeling of progress.

I remember vividly telling myself if I could compose just 15 seconds of music in a night, then it was a good day. “It does not matter how slowly you go forward, as long as you do not stop.”

There were other challenges too, of course. The busiest live performance season, grappling with doubtful art skills, stealing sometimes only a few minutes a day to add to a sketch, and a drawing tablet that slowly descended into death immediately before the premiere, so I just managed to get the video art backed up in time.

But mostly it was fighting to be patient with myself on the days I was exhausted and persistent when I had the energy. It’s a balance I’m still learning, but with every new piece, I am learning.

Question 3: How did you decide which accompanying instruments would be played for each section/story?

Ah. Excellent question.

Celani mori is a violinist. There are sounds on “The Edge of a Melody” which are distinctly not violin.

I knew right from the start I wanted a cello track. The sea is deep and vast, so the rich, low voice of the cello is the perfect mirror.

I do not possess a cello.

Unfortunately.

So it was down to editing magic to help me reach the cello range on a violin. I didn’t know how it would sound with the altered overtones and technical conversion until I’d already recorded everything into the software.

The Piper theme had to be on a wind instrument. I couldn’t bear the thought of making it strings-only when the story so clearly called for something specific.

So I unearthed the recorder I hadn’t touched since moving to the garret and casually committed myself to learning how to play it again in the space of a few weeks.

If you have bouts of doubtful creative sanity like this...well, clearly I won’t be much help because when the little voice in my head says “hey, let’s do this” I’m already putting the dubious plan into action.

Question 4: Does this piece play off of any motifs found in "Unexpected Encounters of the Melodic Kind"?

It does!

One of the first things I did in the composition process was go back and listen to “Unexpected Encounters of the Melodic Kind” again. There’s a sea theme tucked into it to honor the many mermaid stories I so enjoyed. Since The Edge of a Knife and Other Stories opens with a mermaid story, creating a new sea theme based on the old one seemed the perfect way to tie the two pieces together.

Question 5: How did you decide on the art pieces to accompany each section?

One step at a time.

1. Think of a central image, character, symbol, or scene from the story. Let’s use the Piper theme as an example. Central images? Rats and music.

2. Search for helpful reference images. For the Piper theme, the sheet music you see is actually a redrawn copy of the recorder part you’re hearing at that moment in the video.

3. Arrange ideas/images into a single meaningful composition. This is a story in music, so I want the art to hint at the story. At the end of the Piper theme, the music becomes dots pattering like footprints across the page, ending at a little rodent who might have left them. 

Some of the final cuts went through a few different attempts before I finally got to something I was satisfied with. Echo was one of the last pieces to be finished.

Drawing humans is so scary.

Question 6: What mood/atmosphere did you want to convey for each story?

Interestingly, the mood I wanted wasn’t always the mood the music chose.

For “Roses & Pumpkins,” the Lyo x Tamrin theme from “Once Upon a Pumpkin,” I wanted something tender and faintly melancholy. Both characters have been through so much. I wanted to reflect that sorrow and ultimate peace they found together.

What I ended up writing was the ballroom theme. You know, when everything is glittering with crystal and everyone is pretending all is perfect in the world.

Rapid-fire answers for all themes:

The Return of the Sea: Ominous, but familiar. The feeling of the repeating tide at your feet and a wild, warning wind before a storm. I want your pulse to spike just a little, wrapped up in listening for what’s coming next. When the sea theme returns, haunting other sections, it acts as the “magic theme.”

The Spaceport: When I hear this one, I think “opening.” The world is opening into the wider galaxy. You’re seeing the stars not as distant points, but as an expanse you can enter. Each star is a different story, and the universe is wondrous and strange.

The Piper: Lilting and merry, but also haunting. Listen to some Renaissance madrigals for the idea—the music is always lively while the lyrics are sometimes horrifically tragic. The Piper laughs and dances, even when his eyes warn you of something else. Do not dabble in faerie magic without caution.

The Forest: This is the racing heartbeat. I won’t say too much, since this is the “forbidden theme” which doesn’t have a matching story in the published collection. But I wanted the feeling of rushing deeper and deeper into the forest and not knowing if you were there in time. Or if whatever lives there will let you make it out alive. The upper melodic line soaring above the heartbeat is also an adjusted version of the sea/magic theme. This is no ordinary forest.

Grave Planet: Slow and solemn. This is the funeral march. But for all its sorrow, if it is a burial song, the last notes make me think we are standing on the barren ground at sunrise. Light breaks through.

Roses & Pumpkins: We are twirling. Like the Piper, it’s a happy theme with something hiding underneath. But mostly just “we’ve arrived at the castle ball and everything is glittering and you’re spinning in the arms of a handsome someone. Nothing else to see here. Mm-hm.”

Golden: This one is the most fun to play. I feel like it really reaches something deep inside you, like the cello line is a storyteller, the lowest, often hidden voice rising and saying “heed my words. Look at what you’ve done.”

The Cat: Mouse music. Composing the great unknown of space was one thing, but everyone knows what mice and rats scurrying in a barn sound like. So everything here is very light, like a scuttling creature, with a faint return of the Piper’s instrument. I can almost hear the rat saying I can help you!

Echo’s Theme: Another favorite. The expanse of space returns, but this time, it holds some of the grave theme as well. There’s a tenderness, like stretching aching muscles after a long swim.

Fox & Wolf: We’re back to running through the dark woods again, themes building on themes. The sea/magic theme tries to come back as well, agitated, like a warning. Themes are confused, fighting. The magic is dangerous.

CODA: All the busy activity, the striving and fighting and running ends. All the instruments resolve together, on one theme.

I have scribbled in the draft of my score “open….at end. daybreak.” I think that’s the core of the book, too. Darkness is real. But there will always, always be light beyond it.

Life is beautiful and bittersweet.

Question 7: How do you as a composer approach the “storytelling” aspect of each section within the complete piece? How do you decide what elements to focus on?

Luckily this time all the storytelling was already done for me. ;)

But in seriousness—

I try to think about the most iconic image from each story. What lingers in my mind after I’ve finished reading? Sometimes, like for the Piper theme, it’s a character. Other times it’s a moment, like the ballroom dance from Roses & Pumpkins. I try to create a sound world that will help readers imagine the stories, how they make you feel, even if you haven’t read a single word.

Question 8: How did you smoothly transition between sections with opposite moods?

“Edge” has eleven distinct sections—ten themes for nine stories, one “forbidden theme,” and a coda (musical epilogue).

There are a lot of transitions.

I think of each theme as an arc. It begins, it rises, and it falls away. As it falls, it fades, often dropping to one instrument before beginning something new. So in a way, the transitional structure is another reflection of the “sea” shape, each wave of music like the rise and fall of the tide on the shore.

Question 9: Were there any sections that gave you more trouble than others?

The first space theme I remember being very difficult. Whether it’s because I was struggling with how do I compose outer space??? or because I was pushing myself too hard that week and was simply too exhausted for coherent composition, it took me a while to crack it. Both space themes are built in harmonic movement, rather than melody + accompaniment, so they don’t make sense until all the pieces are in place.

On the bright side, the Stardust and Echo themes are also now two of my favorites.

By contrast, the Piper theme was ridiculously effortless to compose, which I can’t help but find amusing.

Question 10: Any other fun tidbits/behind the scenes info you’d like to share?

Hmm…. :)

Let’s talk art things, since this is the first project I’ve done that has been so visually involved.

If you look closely at the artwork for the forest theme, you’ll discover it doesn’t work. I wanted to create a tunnel of trees, the branches framing almost a heart shape. I started experimenting with symmetry tools in my digital artspace, and created trees that are eerily identical. Branches overlap and interlace in ways they shouldn’t.

It’s appropriate for an enchanted forest, I think.

You may also notice stars appear in several of the video frames. These are actually based on starfish, which I thought was the perfect way to unite the space and sea stories, especially when the first intergalactic adventure features oceanic-inspired people groups.


Question 11: Have there been any cool things that listeners have picked out that surprised you?

Despite being very thematic, story-oriented music, I didn’t expect the connection listeners made to silent film scores, and Disney’s Fantasia in particular.

My goal was something like an overture for a musical, the quick “overview” of all the major pieces while the audience finds their seats. It especially felt that way since each theme from “Edge” could easily be developed into an independent track.

But the score for Fantasia includes Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," so I’m not about to complain of that comparison.

(please don’t start riots at my future premieres, though)

Question 12: Can you share with us any hints as to your next projects in the works?

ehehehehe.

Here’s the thing.

I am always, always working on something. I have a scrap file with so many ideas stuffed in it, I could probably spend all of 2026 doing nothing but bringing them to life.

But—at the moment, I don’t always know what I’m doing from one month to the next. “The Edge of a Melody” premiere ended up being sandwiched on a free weekend between three performances. Sometimes I’ll get a last minute message asking if I can fill in on short notice, and I always want to say yes.

It’s chaos, but it’s my kind of life. The only downside is the more I perform, the less time I have for other projects. I’m caught in this tug-of-war between the world I live in and the one I want to create.

So I can’t say anything for certain, but…

I am contemplating more cover songs at the moment. And cheerfully demanding more stories I can score from my friends, of course.

Celani mori will return...and I hope it’s soon. ;)

(Beka's Note: As do I, as do I!)