The Streak

Gotta Go Watch This, I Guess

The Streak by Mychael Danna

Recommended by Tim

"It's a piece of score from the movie Moneyball, which is great and convinced me to give baseball a chance."

I'm glad people have been giving me so many soundtracks and instrumental pieces recently; it's an interesting change of pace, not only because the music is so different from pop and rock and stuff but also because it's such a different experience to read about the way composers create scores vs. how bands and other artists write their music.

There's a clear difference in purpose.

Sure, sometimes there are pop/rock/etc. songs on soundtracks, but they were usually intended to be enjoyed on their own. They were originally meant to be listened to in cars and at concerts. Even if you associate a song with a specific movie, chances are there will be people who just heard it on the radio or wherever and appreciate it on its own individual merit as a song.

A score, on the other hand, is almost always written with a movie or even a specific scene in mind. It's tied to that movie, and it's meant to be in the background. It's rare to dissociate it with its film.

Think about it: even if you haven't watched Star Wars, you can't listen to this and not see Stormtroopers in your mind.

That makes it interesting for me today because I get to listen to this piece that I've never heard from a film that I've never watched.

Also interesting: whereas the artists that perform the songs I usually write about for A Series of Tones are pretty famous, composers rarely get that kind of recognition. If I ask someone to name some popular artists, they can list hundreds. If I ask someone to name modern film composers, the list might have five names on it, even though they'd recognize hundreds of pieces of movie music.

(I'm not being pretentious here. I, too, can only name, like...John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and, uh, Danny Elfman. Maybe Nicholas Hooper.)

Speaking of composers, Mychael Danna is a good one. He won some awards, including an Oscar, for his work on Life of Pi. He also composed for (500) Days of Summer and Little Miss Sunshine. If you're into animated shorts, he recently worked on Sanjay's Super Team.

"Patient, soulful and slow-burning," Danna's score apparently sets the perfect mood for Moneyball. Again, I've never seen the film, so I can neither confirm nor deny that. But I trust Tim and Indiewire.

I can confirm that I like the combo of driving triplets and slow, steady strings. Dramatic.

Overview:

Genre:
Film Score

Verdict:
Doesn't remind me of baseball as much as Take Me Out to the Ballgame, tbh