This week’s cue is another selection from the feature documentary Touché: A Blind Fencer’s Story — specifically, a theme for one of the fencers’ serpentine housepets. While I didn’t go overboard trying to match the music to the “character”, I’d like to think that the bluesy guitar melody has a kind of twisting, snakelike quality to it.

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	Pet Snakes

This week’s cue is a second excerpt from the score for Touché: A Blind Fencer’s Story. This reprises the theme presented last week, but in an extended form that features different instrumentation. To wit, the moodier piano from the prior version is replaced with nylon-string acoustic guitar, performed here by Tom Strahle. In these musical clothes, the melody feels more optimistic and down-to-earth. (An appropriate mood for Catherine’s upbeat humor, as she heads out to take a work placement test.)

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Taking the Test

George Adams’ documentary Touché: A Blind Fencer’s Story tells the extraordinary story of Catherine Bolton, a woman who after losing most of her vision in adulthood, became a champion blindfolded fencer.

Music for a documentary has to walk a line between romanticism and respect for its subject matter; after all, the “characters” are real people who don’t need to be defined or emotionally authenticated by music. Nonetheless I felt that it was appropriate to compose a leitmotif for Catherine, which recurs throughout the film. Instead of varying the theme musically, I changed its instrumentation to reflect the mood of the moment. This solo piano version takes on a reflective but optimistic tone.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Catherine’s Theme

This week’s cue is a short tango, written for a witty moment in a romantic comedy. The high drama of the musical style clicked well with a scene about a falsified medical confession.

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	Bad News Tango

Here’s some moody underscore from a trauma scene with Erika Christensen’s character in the film Home Room. I spent a lot of time thinking about instrumentation, as too heavy-handed an approach could interfere with the film’s delicate portrayal of a tough moment. I ultimately opted for a duet between two bass flutes, which have a darker quality than the standard-sized flute. Cello harmonies provide a sense of breadth at the end, matching a shift to a wider shot in the scene.

The melody itself is a slowed-down variation of the film’s main theme, barely recognizable unless you have sharp ears. Composers love to recycle!

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	PTSD