Mary Schratz Irwin

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Musician

Update: (February 12, 2022): Up until August 2, 2021, Mary Irwin had been on the horn since 1973, except for a 10-year hiatus when she mostly served as an Engineering Duty Officer, United States Navy. She played in Community Orchestras and Bands, such as the North Myrtle Beach Community Band and Festive Brass on the Grand Strand of South Carolina, the Alexandria Citizens Band in Alexandria, Virginia, Bay Winds in Annapolis, Maryland, the Anne Arundel County Youth Symphony in Pasadena, Maryland. She played in academic environments, such as the Coastal Carolina University Symphonic Band in Conway, South Carolina. She played with the National Concert Band of America for 19 years. Her orchestral credits include the MMG National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Washington, DC, Principal Horn with the Trinity United Methodist Church Orchestra in North Myrtle Beach, the Annandale Symphony in Annandale, Virginia, the University of Virginia and Community Symphony Orchestra, the Jewish Community Orchestra in San Diego, California, and the Maryland Youth Symphony under Angelo Gatto in Baltimore, MD. In small ensembles, she played in the North Myrtle Beach Woodwind Quintet on two occasions, the Beach Brass Quintet, the MMG National Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet, the National Concert Band of America Woodwind Quintet, and various Coastal Carolina University small ensembles. Pit band and orchestra credits include “Tommy the Musical” in Prince William County, Virginia, and the Music Man. Mary loves memories of her music ministry doing solo and ensemble work up and down the Grand Strand in South Carolina, including multiple performances at Trinity United Methodist Church under the co-musical direction of Albert and Melody Evans.

Hornist

See Musician! Mary is the proud owner of a 2004 custom-built-for-her Lawson classic horn hand-made by Walter Lawson himself in Boonsboro, Maryland, an Eastlake-manufactured Conn 8-D, manufactured sometime after the year 2000, and a vintage Olds single horn given to her by the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, SC. She has accompanied greats like Phillip Farkas, and others in various orchestral settings. Mary is a horn performance major at Coastal Carolina University, an honors student with 101.5 credits toward graduation. She holds a 3.938/4.0 GPA.

Update (February 12, 2022): Mary retired her horn career on August 2, 2021. Repetitive stress injuries to her left thumb drove her into retirement from horn performance. A talented surgeon released Mary’s tendon leading to her thumb on October 14, 2021. Mary experienced relief for many activities. To be able to play the horn again on a regular or non-regular basis, the surgeon told Mary she would need a more extensive CMC (thumb)-joint surgery. In CMC-joint surgery, the doctor removes a trapezoidal shaped bone from the base of the thumb to give the left hand and wrist still more tendon freedom. However, Mary’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Erica Umpierrez from CMC Orthopedics in Conway, South Carolina, told Mary she would not know whether or not if she could resume her horn career or not until one year following the more invasive surgery. Moreover, even if the CMC-joint surgery were to fix the tendonitis, Mary’s osteoarthritis, growing in both hands but especially the left, would still be untreated…and progressive. At 62 years of age, Mary cried, “Uncle.” It was time to stop pushing a rope. It was time to stop forcing solutions. It was time to retire her horn career.

Composer

Mary enjoys composing. She just started dabbling with composing in 2018. Recently she has tossed together some original material suitable for everything from churches to nightclubs, on digital audio workstations and musical notation software. She completed the first movement of a four-movement tribute to her husband entitled Gekopelt, Friedlich, Gesegnet (Coupled, Peaceful, Blessed). See media page. She wants to do more composing in the future.

Writer

Mary loves to write. She published two theses at Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia, respectively. She taught an Effective Business Writing Course at Techmatics, Inc., and the Anteon Corporation for 7 years.

Engineer

Mary is a Deans List Graduate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia. She received her masters in Systems Engineering with emphasis in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech. She retired from a 34-year engineering career and started her musical career full time in 2013.