Mockingbird

I was sad to read this morning that Elmer Bernstein has died. He wrote over two hundred film scores but it’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ that I keep coming back to. It’s one of those rare scores that has a life of its own, outside of the context of the movie. And it’s been a part of my background soundtrack while I’ve been working through a number of projects about (and for) children over the past few months.

The weather is getting colder. I can’t walk down the street in the autumn evening without hearing those innocent, plaintive notes. For me, that music will always evoke the falling leaves and two children walking home together alone.