I’m sure most people can imagine the scene – the slugger steps up to the plate, the ball flies from the pitcher’s hand, the bat makes contact, it’s up in the air – and suddenly everything is in slow motion. Everyone’s eyes follow the ball and it curves up and up into the sky; the slugger lets the bat drop loosely and watches it, the fielders arms hang limply and they don’t run after it, because everyone knows, because everything is in slow motion, because the stadium lights are exploding, and because that music is playing.
I wouldn’t have asked this except that it’s been stuck in my head all day – who wrote that piece?
In case the above doesn’t help, I believe the notes are something like :
do-mi
do-fa-do-LA
Also, I think it played when Homer and/or Maggie Simpson bowled 300.
(And was there actually a movie where the scene I described above used this?)
I don’t know the name of the piece, but The Simpsons scene is a direct rip-off of the final scene in The Natural, starring Robert Redford. The music, the explosion, the dancing, all the details. It’s stuff like this that makes The Simpsons great.
Following up on a hunch confirmed my original thoughts that I was too chicken to give. If I’m remembering the scene correctly, the music is Fanfare for the Common Man by Copland.
But IIRC, it was either The Natural or Knock the Cover Off the Ball, from The Natural soundtrack. Both pieces are credited to Randy Newman, but I don’t know if they are completely original works of his.
“Knock the Cover off the Ball” and “The Natural” are pretty much the same theme, but they are orchestrated differently.
The former appears during a particular sequence in the film, i.e. when Roy Hobbs knocks the cover off the ball in a game. The latter is played over the closing credits.