The Art of War (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"

"The Art of War" is one of the song titles featured from the Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack, listed as track number four. It is the song featured in Meet the Soldier, the Mac Update trailer, partially at the end of the Meet the Medic trailer, the sound cues played when voting, and for the Team Fortress 2 is Free to Play trailer, as well as being one of 33 main menu startup themes. "The Art of War" was the first track to be added subsequent to the game's release.

A segment of this track is used for the sound cue "rd_finale.wav", which plays on Robot Destruction maps.

Analysis

Key: E Minor
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 155 BPM
Length: 2:17
Release Date: August 22, 2007
Update: Base Game
Composer: Mike Morasky
Instrumentation: 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 2 tubas, 8 percussion

Due to its heavy percussive focus, this track is the most neutral out of all those featured on the soundtrack. Because of this, it sees heavy use for promotional trailers, such as the aforementioned Mac Update trailer and the Team Fortress 2 is Free to Play feature. The track is rather up-tempo, and creates a familiar energy to most of the Team Fortress 2 soundtrack, but its lack of distinct pitch elicits a more serious and focused feel. Faster Than a Speeding Bullet is another percussion-heavy track, though it includes more use of pitched instruments and its percussion is less based on that of military bands.

As this track is a feature for traditional percussion, it includes several different types of drum, which mix field and military percussion with concert percussion. Percussion listed in the official score include concert snare drum, marching snare drum, tom rims, high toms, one high and one low side drum (an older, military-based snare drum), 2 concert bass drums, and marching toms. As percussion leads the tension, the key is largely unimportant. Still though, the few pitched notes played by the brass indicate that the key is E minor, as with many other parts of the soundtrack. Throughout the track, the little variation and tension created is as a result of either new percussion instruments being added, the brass, or the continual increase in speed.

Trivia

• The title of the song, "The Art of War" is a reference to the famous military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general and tactician. It is named "The Art of War".

Update history

November 15, 2007 Patch

• [Undocumented] This song was added as main menu music.