Playing With Danger (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"

"Playing With Danger" is track number two featured on the Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack and track three on The Orange Box Official Soundtrack. The track plays during Trailer 2 and is one of 33 different main menu start up themes. '"Playing With Danger" is also the track heard from the various map introduction videos, and parts of it are used as audio cues for the Dueling Mini-Game, Casual Mode level ups and Main Menu alerts. A loop of its percussion-only part is used as the background on the main class selection screen, with an electric guitar playing a modified E minor harmonic blues scale; one note for each individual class.

Videos

An alternate version added in the Jungle Inferno Update:

Guitar transcription

The following is an abridged transcription of the song.

Playing With Danger     
                     
time = 4/4          | 
Standard E-tuning   | 
 
(c) Mike Morasky / VALVe 2007                   

					         E Major
                                              Clean Guitar
       Fig. 1                     Fig. 2                     Fig. 1                    Fig. 3
e ||--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------|
B ||--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------|
G ||--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------|
D ||--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------|
A ||--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------|
E ||--0--0--0--3--3--3--0--0--|--------------6--6--5--5--|--0--0--0--3--3--3--0--0--|--0--7--7--7--5--5--5b6--5b7--|
 
      Fig. 1                     Fig. 4
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --0--0--0--3--3--3--0--0--|--0--7--7--7--6--6--5--5|
    
                                              Tremolo/Vibrato Guitar
      
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --------------------------|------------------3--2--|
    --4--3---------2--3--4--3-|--4--3------2--3--------|
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --------------------------|------------------------|
    --------------------------|------------------------|

                                                     Piano Melody

       Fig. 1                          Fig. 2                         Fig. 3
    -------------------------------|-----------------------10--9---|--9--8------13--12--|
    --12--11-------12--11--12--11--|--12--11-------12--11----------|--------11----------|
    -------------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------|
    -------------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------|
    -------------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------|
    -------------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------|

Analysis

See also: Team Fortress 2 (Main Theme) (Soundtrack)

Key: E Minor
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 125 BPM
Length: 4:03
Release Date: August 21, 2006
Update: Base Game
Composer: Mike Morasky
Instrumentation: 4 flutes, 3 clarinets, 2 trumpets. 2 trombones, piano, 2 electric guitars, electric bass, drumset, 2 percussion

Similarly to the main theme, "Playing With Danger" is in the key of E Minor, and the bass line stays within notes found in the E Minor blues scale (E, G, A, Bb, B, and D). Though similar to the main theme, "Playing With Danger" uses more chromaticism in its melody, larger instrumentation, and utilizes more woodwind-focused writing.

The main motif is primarily through longer held notes, as well as the bass line, but the development of this theme is found through changes in timbre. The theme is moved between all instrument sections, with sections either playing separately or in harmony. In contrast to the long, held notes, the clarinet parts contain several instances of shorter notes, which fills what previously was space between each phrase of the melody. The scoring is also noteworthy, as "Playing With Danger" is the first track (in the soundtrack's order) to include woodwinds, which are then blended with the brass to create a warmer, almost homogenous sound. At a point the key temporarily modulates to F minor, the key one semitone above E minor, which is the first time the track deviates from E minor. These compositional techniques are found very often in instrumental music written for woodwinds and/or brass, as exploring different colors of sound is important when the music only contains one theme with no musical variations.

Trivia

• Like several entries in the soundtrack, "Playing With Danger" uses many themes and leitmotifs from the main theme, including sharing a key of E Minor, using an identical bassline, the use of chromaticism, and the use of the blues scale.
• The track's arrangement and composition strongly recalls "The Battle of Algiers" by Ennio Morricone, from the eponymous 1966 film.