Continuing the music series from Touché: A Blind Fencer’s Story, this week’s cue is the first of two that accompany the film’s climactic fencing tournament sequence.

Scoring this scene took a delicate touch. The music needed to add energy and a sense of stakes without turning a real-life competition into a scene from an action movie. In other words, to heighten the moment without over-romanticizing nonfictional people and events. And given the prevalence of dialogue and narration, big overarching themes would have felt intrusive.

I chose a minimalist (capital M) approach: rhythmically driven, with gradual changes of texture and harmony. I used a chamber music palette to keep the score intimate and personal: four celli, acoustic bass, and hand percussion.

Continuing the music series from Touché: A Blind Fencer’s Story, this week’s cue is a gentle accompaniment to fully blind fencer Ani Brady, as she deftly prepares a meal with the help of her daughter. The sensitive guitar performance comes courtesy of Tom Strahle.

Having returned from a well-enjoyed summer trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I’m happy to put the Cue of the Week blog back in operation!

This week’s music is the main title from a documentary with an extraordinary subject: Catherine Bolton, a single mom who lost her sight in her mid 30s, then become a champion in blind and sight-impaired fencing. Solo piano accompanies the film’s main title sequence of slow-motion fencers in black and white.

A close cousin to last week’s The Stormy Sea, this piece continues the atmosphere of nautical adventure and mystery.