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.



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Dan Potter
Dan Potter has been hooked on drum corps and competitive marching band for more than 30 years. He is the announcer for many Drum Corps International and marching band shows nationwide and is the host of DCI's "Field Pass," the official podcast of Marching Music's Major League™.

Drum Major of the Geneseo Knights Drum and Bugle Corps from 1979-1981, Dan was also on the staff of the Glassmen and has taught or consulted high school marching bands in Indiana, Texas and Oklahoma.

Dan has been a news anchor, radio personality and manager of newsrooms for 30 years. He is the recipient of numerous broadcast journalism awards including the prestigious Radio-Television News Directors Association’s Edward R. Murrow award for best radio newscast in the U.S. and the DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. Dan is the host of the "KRMG Morning News with Dan Potter" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as the host of the cooking show, “OKFoodie.”