INGRID’S MECHANISM for Wind Ensemble by MICHAEL BARRY (USA, 1981)

[#300] April 21, 2025 2024 | Grade 6 | 10’ – 15’ | Program music

Ingrid’s Mechanism by American composer and pianist Michael Barry is our Composition of the Week.

Ingrid’s Mechanism was written in 2018 and later revised in 2024.

The work has a duration of about 14’ and it is scored for a standard wind ensemble setting, including alto flute, contra-bassoon, double bass and 6 percussion parts.

“This is, by far, my favorite of my wind ensemble compositions …join fledgling robot Ingrid on her fantastical journey through her native home-world! During the course of the fun-to-play and adventurous work, each section of the ensemble enjoys a prominent moment or two.

There are some especially fun moments for the clarinets, bass clarinets, and oboes. The principal alto sax and clarinet each get some expressive solos, and the bass clarinet principal gets an especially playful feature. The mood of the work eclectically transforms from soft to loud; from heroic to meek; from rubato to overly mechanical. Ingrid’s mechanical motif finally appears in full form in bar 265 and should be played very consistently – remember she is a robot! The piece ends sadly as her life force slowly fades away … but oh what a nice journey she had.” Program Notes by Michael Barry

Award-winning composer Michael Barry is equally at home with music for games, T.V., films, and the concert hall. As a trained classical pianist, Michael's music remains closely associated with the traditions of the great symphonic masters, and he is particularly capable of producing a bona fide Golden Age sound when needed. Leading Hollywood conductor Anthony Parnther described his music as: “… it was almost as if [Michael] threw a dart, and it landed perfectly between Hermann, Steiner, and Scriabin.” Michael's works have been played by the London Symphony, the Danish Radio Symphony, the Buffalo Symphony and others.

Michael’s career highlights include writing music for a Steve Jobs Keynote event, proofing John Williams’ hand-written sketches on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, lead/sole orchestrating on Netflix’s Emmy-winning “Arcane,” writing backing charts for Imagine Dragons, and even acting in Nickelodeon’s The Naked Brothers Band.

Michael’s unique musical ear has allowed him to hyper-accurately transcribe (write down), for MGM, sheet music scores to Tom Bradley’s original Tom and Jerry series, whose original scores were lost forever to time in an 80’s landfill.

As an orchestrator, Michael has had a close working relationship with master composer Alan Menken and has orchestrated music for several films, including Beauty and the Beast and Spellbound.

Michael has worked on a wide variety of video games, including substantial work for Riot Games’ League of Legends and Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. His work on “A New Dawn” earned him a Golden Reel Award.

In addition to his musical efforts, Michael was a co-founder of the industry-leading sampling company Cinesamples and an original founding partner of Hollywood Scoring. His latest entrepreneurial effort includes being CEO of Stratisound, a leading online tutorial company for composers.

Michael spends his spare time with his wife and dog, playing chess, cheering for his hopeless New York Rangers, studying Shostakovich, and photographing birds in his home in Lake Arrowhead.

from Composer’s Webpage

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More on Michael Barry

https://michaelbarrycomposer.com

Other works for winds include :

• Like our fathers before us (2014)

• Boomba (2015)

• Zeembah (2017)

• The Native Inhabitants of San Pateo (2019)

• Osen (2019)

• Of Kings and Crowns (2020)

• Symphony for Winds N°1 (2024)