Score notes — 2015 · Athletics drama
Ember Field
Thirty-eight cues for a film about runners who refuse to stop — taiko drums, a 24-piece string section and a finish-line choir.
Theme sketch — synthesized preview
Hear the rising motif
A soft piano sketch of the main theme, generated in your browser. The film recording adds taiko, strings and choir.
D major · four rising notes · 0:08
How it was composed
Run with it, then write it down
The director wanted muscle without noise — so the theme was sketched on morning runs, matching stride to tempo. Four rising notes carry the whole film: training at 92 BPM, the final race at 140.
Taiko drums were tracked first for weight, strings overdubbed in eighths for breath, and the boys' choir recorded last, in one evening session, singing the finish-line phrase you hear over the credits.
Main theme — minute by minute
Lone drum
A single taiko heartbeat under black — the runner's pulse before dawn.
Strings enter in eighths
Violins pick up the stride pattern; the motif appears, unfinished.
Full motif, full kit
Four rising notes stated twice — drums, strings and brass in step.
Choir at the line
Everything drops but the choir for the photo finish, then one last hit.