Composing for a fencing tourney in a documentary is decidedly different from scoring the same material in a fictional movie; too bombastic a style and you’ve suddenly turned a real-life moment into an Errol Flynn action sequence.

At the same time, this scene in Touché: A Blind Fencer’s Story does have some of the elements of fiction: sympathetic characters, tension, and struggle towards a climax. The music needed to acknowledge the energy, and the distinctive give-and-take rhythm of fencing.

My approach was rhythmic, but on an intimate rather than ultra-romantic scale; the drive is provided by three celli, instead of a big orchestra or pounding electronic beats. Support is provided by colorful hand percussion – marimba and halo drums, which sound a little bit like Caribbean steel drums.

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	The Final Tournament (Part 1)

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.

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	Ani at Home

Continuing the selections from Touché: A Blind Fencer’s Story, this week’s cue is the music from the opening credits. The haunting black-and-white visual of two fencers dueling in slow-motion inspired this lyrical piece for solo piano.

Piano always feels like a natural match for black and white imagery; the color of the keyboard is an obvious correlate, and since piano is used to make “sketches” of orchestral pieces there may be a functional analogy as well. But ultimately I think it’s the instrument’s focused, consistent sound that makes the association click in my mind.

Those ruminations safely delivered, hope you enjoy the piece!

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

	Touché (Main Titles)

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.

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

	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