About John Mapes:

John Mapes is a full-time percussion designer and educator involved in teaching over 20 high school and independent percussion programs in Southern California since 1997. His marching experience includes Velvet Knights and Pacific Crest Drum Corps organizations. He received his Bachelor of Arts in percussion from California State University, Long Beach, in the spring of 2000.

He has built and taught WGI PSO 2005 silver medalist and 2006/2007/2008 champion Pacifica H.S. since 2000, designing battery, front ensemble and visual. He started teaching Chino Hills H.S. (WGI World Class 6th place 2008) and Los Alamitos H.S. (WGI A Class Bronze medalist 2007) in the fall of 2005. He recently started working at Fountain Valley H.S. in the fall of 2006, where they won the 4A WBA championships & Percussion sweepstakes for 2007 and the WGI PSO bronze medal for 2008. He built and taught Cerritos H.S. from 2000-2006, taking multiple high percussion titles in 4A WBA Championships and being Open class finalists both trips out to WGI finals (2004 & 2006).

He was the Battery Arranger/ Percussion Caption Head for the Esperanza Drum and Bugle Corps from San Diego, CA from 2002-2006, taking the corps to nationals for the first time, winning the Div II title and moving up to Div I in 2004. He was also the Battery Arranger and Program Coordinator for the Esperanza WGI Independent World class 2004 finalist percussion ensemble, its first and only year. His most recent corps relationship, starting in the summer of 2007, is the Blue Devil B Corps front ensemble and battery percussion arranger. He also was the battery arranger and overall show consultant for the Pulse Percussion PIW ensemble in the winter of 2008.

Along with fellow designer and instructor Ian Grom, John co-founded box-six.com, which is the exclusive seller of their original indoor shows. 

John is a member of the Vic Firth Educational team, a WGI Percussion Advisory Board member and is a volunteer for the Southern California Percussion Alliance circuit. He is also a principle percussion arranger for JKS music and a proud endorser of Vic Firth, Yamaha, Remo and Zildjian products.

About Ian Grom:

Ian Grom is a performer, composer and educator based out of Southern California.  He received his Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from California State University, Long Beach, where he specialized in drum set, marimba and composition. 

Some of his recent performance highlights include numerous prime-time live appearances on the hit CBS show Survivor, opening for Aerosmith with Canadian artist Christa Borden, and playing on the soundtrack to the box office smash The Grudge.

He currently designs and composes for the indoor percussion programs at Fountain Valley & Los Alamitos H.S.'s and Pulse Percussion. After being encouraged to venture into writing for winds, he now designs and composes the fall productions at Fountain Valley and Chino Hills.  Ian's use of 100% original music, cutting edge technology, and innovative show concepts have made him one of the most sought-after composers in the Southern California marching scene.

As a front ensemble specialist and caption head, Ian maintains an extremely intensive teaching schedule at Pacifica, Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley, and Chino Hills High Schools.  All of his indoor percussion ensembles have had great success both locally and nationally.  Pacifica has 3 back to back WGI PSO gold medals and a silver in 2005.  In 2007 Los Alamitos won the PSA Bronze, and in 2008 Fountain Valley took the PSO bronze with Chino Hills grabbing a PSW top 6 slot.

Along with fellow designer and instructor John Mapes, he co-founded box-six.com, which is the exclusive seller of their original indoor shows.