The Merry Go Round of Life is the main theme from the movie Howl’s Moving Castle by Studio Ghibli. The film is set in a fictional kingdom where both magic and 20th-century technology are present. It tells the story of Sophie, a young hat maker, who is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.
This version of the Merry Go Round of Life is in the key of G Minor, meaning there are two flats, B flat and E flat. This means the player must use low 2nd fingers on every string, low 1st fingers on D, A, and E, and use a low 4 on A string instead of open E. This piece has several accidentals and requires shifting to third position. The sheet music contains both the piano and violin parts, so for a violin solo, play only the top line.
