Rocket Jump Waltz (Soundtrack)

Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack

"Team Fortress 2 (Main Theme)" "Playing With Danger" "Rocket Jump Waltz" "The Art of War" "Faster Than a Speeding Bullet" "Right Behind You" "Petite Chou-Fleur" "Intruder Alert" "Drunken Pipe Bomb" "More Gun" "Haunted Fortress 2" "TF2 Saxxy 2011 Theme" "A Little Heart to Heart" "MEDIC!" "Archimedes" "Dreams of Cruelty" "The Calm" "ROBOTS!" "Dapper Cadaver" "Rise of the Living Bread" "Red Bread" "Three Days to Live" "Seduce Me!" "Stink Lines" "It Hates Me So Much" "Misfortune Teller" "Soldier of Dance" "RED Triumphs!" "BLU Triumphs!" "Yeti Park" "Saxton's Dilemma" "Mercenary Park" "Saluting the Fallen"

"Rocket Jump Waltz" is one of the song titles featured from the Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack, listed as track number three, as well as track four on The Orange Box Official Soundtrack. This whimsical tune plays during the Soldiers' rocket jumping aerial ballet in Trailer 2, and is also one of 33 different main menu themes.

Videos

Here is the alternate version of the song as heard in the Viaduct development videos:

Analysis

Key: E Minor
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 111 BPM
Length: 0:39
Release Date: August 21, 2006
Update: Base Game
Composer: Mike Morasky

This track focuses predominantly on the brass and woodwind sections featured. The brass outlines the chord progression of E minor, G major, and A minor. The woodwind, meanwhile, carries more melodic information, guiding most of the song over-top the chord changes. This part is later harmonized with a horn from the brass section. Despite its name, it lacks many traditional waltz components; the song is in 4/4 time (as opposed to 3/4), lacks percussion, lacks string arrangements, and has more basic woodwind and brass sections. The track is closer to the more blanket Ballroom dance genre.

Trivia

• Waltz is a misnomer, as while waltzes are predominantly in triple time, "Rocket Jump Waltz" is in the more common 4/4 (quadruple/common) time.
• An alternate version of the "Rocket Jump Waltz" can be heard in the developer video showing the creation of Viaduct on the Official Blog.
  • In this version, there is a second clarinet part layered over the solo part, and the last half of the track is repeated.
• The descending blues scale at the end of the track also appears in the main theme, Mercenary Park, and Playing With Danger.
• The end of the song (0:34-0:39) plays behind the jeers when a stalemate or sudden death occurs.
• "Rocket Jump Waltz" is the shortest track on the official soundtrack.