The 122nd Army Band has won a 2018 Army Music Performance Team of the Year award! The competition, run by the Army Music Program, draws submissions from across the Army Music field, from National Guard and Army Reserve bands to active duty post bands and even the premiere ensembles based in our nation's capital. This the second year in a row that the 122nd has be recognized in the competition.
MPT of the Year always draws a wide range of submissions that showcases the best of what the Army Band field has to offer, and highlights the ongoing evolution of Army Bands into flexible and versatile performing groups capable of handling any mission. The MPT concept is one that has existed for as long as military bands have been around: having multiple smaller, specialized ensembles within the larger organization. From concert, rock, and jazz bands to flute ensembles and steel drum groups, Army Band MPTs span the gamut of musical genres.
In the 122nd, the "Full Metal Racket" MPT has taken on a highly flexible model, itself breaking down into even smaller groups for quick performances of a few songs before reconfiguring into an entirely different group. Full Metal Racket's capabilities are wide, from traditional ceremonial music to jazz to pop rock to Hollywood hits. This allows the ensemble to support a large range of missions, including the creation of videos with high production value for Facebook and Twitter, reaching an audience far beyond the traditional "Army band concert" crowd.
Full Metal Racket has produced a number of videos, from a raucous rendition of Hang on Sloopy to a French Horn take on Mannheim Steamroller's classic Christmas tunes to our 2017 MPT of the Year award-winning "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes a Beat!". These produced-for-social-media videos have expanded the 122nd's ability to connect with new and diverse audiences in fresh, exciting, and contemporary ways.
The 122nd competed in multiple categories for the 2018 awards and won the Video Production category of the 2018 Army Music Performance Team of the Year — our second straight win in the category. Our submission of Beauty and the Beast offered both a fun and thoroughly offbeat take on "Be Our Guest" with a soulful vocal rendition of the classic "Love". In the MPT of the Year competition there is no distinction between a "one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer" National Guard band like the 122nd and the full-time active duty bands stationed around the world — ensembles are judged purely on the quality of their performance and nothing more. The recognition as a winning MPT isn't just a gratifying validation of our work and capability; the vote is held by members of the Army Music Program, meaning that it was our fellow Army musicians around the globe that selected us for this award.
We're thrilled and humbled to be again recognized for the quality of our work; it inspires us to work even harder in everything we do. Full Metal Racket and the other MPTs of the 122nd, including the concert band and rock band Flashbang will be performing this summer across Ohio in our The Beatles show!
