Dozens upon dozens of DCI corps have played composer John Mackey's music. Hundreds more high school and college marching bands have as well. This year, the Cadets' production "Awakening" contains two Mackey pieces, "Turning" and "Wine-Dark Sea." But, John Mackey almost never goes to see his music performed on a football field.

Lately, though, that's been changing. Mackey is in Indianapolis to attend his first DCI World Championship Finals and, for many reasons, he's really looking forward to it.

Today, Dan Potter had lunch with John Mackey and they talked about drum corps, about composing, and about Mackey's surprising background in music. Grab yourself a snack and enjoy this in-depth conversation with one of the world's most prolific wind ensemble composers in a special edition of the Field Pass presented by Zildjian.