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[Updated - May, 2026] A Fire Within - Main title from the 2026 short film "A Fire Within: A Railroader Movie". Find on YouTube starting on May 16th, 2026. Welcome to A Fire Within, a project I started in February, 2025. This film follows the relationship between two friends, Sam and Andy. The main moral of the story is betrayal and hits at the idea that 'even your closest friends can betray you'. This main theme accompanies this tale and welcomes you to their world and acts as a basis for the rest of the soundtrack. The soundtrack for "A Fire Within: A Railroader Movie" will be released to all streaming services starting on May 16th! Creating the score: Set into a large binary form, this work is in E-minor and is one of my most emotional works. It is very personal to me, as the whole story mirrors a small part of my life. I felt inspired by the soundtrack from the 2010 movie, "Unstoppable" and with Barber's Adagio for Strings. It was my goal to capture melancholic emotions and an overcast/ gray atmosphere. If you would like to know more about the score, go to the "About" section on page 4! ________________ Program Note: A Fire Within is the main theme from the short film "A Fire Within: A Railroader". Published on YouTube in 2026, this indie film is an an original story written by Mason Kistler detailing betrayal between two friends. Based on the composer's own experience with relationships between friends, partners, and colleagues, this title theme acts as a reflection of those turbulent times from his perspective. In context of the film, this work acts as vehicle to display various leitmotifs and acts as the foundation for the entire soundtrack. This story established itself as the first short-film made solely in the video game Railroader, which was released in December, 2023. Join the orchestra as they bring you in towards this cinematic universe and listen as they ignite the Fire Within. [DO NOT REPLICATE] FireWithin_Audio.mp3 A Fire Within_MainTheme.pdf

Title: Good Boys Aren’t for Me (Verse 1) Polite smiles, tucked-in shirts, All the right words, but it never works. I tried the safe route, I tried to believe, But my wild heart just wants to break free. (Pre-Chorus) Give me tattoos, give me trouble in his eyes, Lean in close, I can feel the butterflies. The good boys call, but I let it ring, 'Cause I need more fire, I need more sting. (Chorus) Good boys aren’t for me, I want a rebel, a little risky. Give me the thrill, give me the heat, Someone who owns the darkened streets. Good boys aren’t for me, I crave the edge, the mystery. I want a bad boy, want a gangster man, Who gets my heart like no good boy can. (Verse 2) Buttoned up boys with their polished shoes, I can’t keep up with the life I've chosen. I’m drawn to danger, to the wolves who run, To the boys with a past and a loaded gun. (Pre-Chorus) Give me tattoos, give me trouble in his eyes, Lean in close, I can feel the butterflies. The good boys wait, but I just can’t stay, 'Cause I need a lover who can sweep me away. (Chorus) Good boys aren’t for me, I want a rebel, a little risky. Give me the thrill, give me the heat, Someone who owns the darkened streets. Good boys aren’t for me, I crave the edge, the mystery. I want a bad boy, want a gangster man, Who gets my heart like no good boy can. (Bridge) Call me crazy, call me wild, But I love the danger, love the style. He’s the king of the night, I’m his willing thief, With a kiss that tastes like disbelief. (Chorus) Good boys aren’t for me, I want a rebel, a little risky. Give me the thrill, give me the heat, Someone who owns the darkened streets. Good boys aren’t for me, I crave the edge, the mystery. I want a bad boy, want a gangster man, Who gets my heart like no good boy can. (Outro) So let the good boys wave as I walk by, I’ll take my trouble with a glint in his eye. Good boys aren’t for me, now I see, Give me a bad boy, set me free.

Yeah, like the two places you quoted, b.41 can be modulated to G major with the constant Mixolydian C natural throughout the piece, and D minor in b.126!

Hi @MK_Piano! I think the choice of E minor is really fits for this betrayal/fighting theme. Your music here makes me think of the film music of Kieślowski’s Dobles Lives of Veroniques, the score written by Zbgniew Preisner: Thx for sharing! Henry

I am reviewing Vincent Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" and just finished chapter 3! And so I decided to do the first exercise that looked good to me to try to make an actual piece of music out of (I don't like exercises for their own sake - I think I should always be trying to make living, breathing music). Here is the prompt for the exercise: "12. Harmonize the following melody in four string parts using dominant seventh chords exclusively. Much contrary and oblique motion and several inversions should be used." Like I said, I tried to make an actual piece of music out of it and not be too much of a stickler to the rules. I also tried to approach it not like a chorale exercise - let me know if I've succeeded on that front! Thanks for listening and I would appreciate any suggestions, critiques, comments or just observations!

It sounds really fluid given a dominant seventh’s function is to push the resolving process and continuous dom 7th chords really is like keeping the tension at the very end. I have a thought is that, the theme would be really fit for imitations between the four instruments, one minim apart! But that may defeat the purpose to keep dom 7th chords only haha.

For instrumentation I think it’s already good, maybe I will add a contrabassoon to strengthen the lower octave. Motivically maybe I will add the descending chromatic motive instead of just Ab octave. Henry

You must have some delay effect on your piano sounds. Cool idea, and the 5/8 rhythm does a good job breaking things up. I feel that it helps conclude the musical phrase pretty well. As far the the harmony goes, its definitely unique. Like always, nice usage of dynamics and rit. towards your conclusion. These types of details help add to the musicality.