Brian Gallagher
Director of Bands

     John Mapes is a full-time percussion educator and visual designer involved in teaching over 20 high school and independent percussion programs in Southern California since 1997. He received his Bachelor of Arts in percussion from California State University, Long Beach, in the spring of 2000. His marching experience includes Velvet Knights and Pacific Crest Drum Corps organizations. He currently has ten years of drum corps teaching/design experience and an unprecedented 14 WGI medals since 2005.

      He started with the Pulse Percussion independent world ensemble behind the scenes in the winter of 2008 as an arranger, and within 3 short years helped take the ensemble to it’s first PIW Gold Medal in 2010 as the program coordinator, battery arranger and visual designer. He started in the summer of 2007 with the Blue Devil B Corps as the front ensemble and battery percussion arranger. The Corps has earned it’s highest placement in percussion and full corps each year he was involved until winning high percussion and overall 1st place at DCI 2009 championships. 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.

      Starting in the fall of 2000, John has built and taught the Pacifica High School percussion program with 8 consecutive PSO WGI finals appearances and six consecutive PSO WGI medals from 2005-2010. In the fall of 2005 he started teaching Chino Hills HS, WGI World Class finalist’s from 2008-2010 with a WGI PSW Bronze medal in 2009 and a WGI PSW Silver Medal in 2010. He started working at Los Alamitos HS in the fall of 2005 becoming the WGI A Class Bronze medalist in 2007, WGI A class gold medalist in 2009 and a WGI World class finalist in 2010. He worked at Fountain Valley HS from the fall of 2006 until the winter of 2009, winning multiple percussion titles in the indoor and outdoor programs, including a two time WGI finalist in WGI Open class and an Open class medal in 2008.

      Along with fellow designer and instructor Ian Grom, John co-founded box-six.com in August of 2008, which is the exclusive seller of their original indoor percussion and marching band shows.

      John is also an official Yamaha Artist, a member of the Vic Firth Educational team, a WGI Percussion Advisory Board member, A WGI Percussion Steering Commitee 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 Remo and Zildjian products. 

      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. He has an unprecedented 14 WGI medals since 2005.

      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.

      As a front ensemble specialist and caption head, Ian maintains an extremely intensive teaching schedule at Chino Hills, Los Alamitos, and Pacifica high schools. First starting as a consultant in 2008, Ian became the full time front ensemble arranger and instructor for Chino Hills High School in the fall of 2009. The ensemble became a three time World class finalist taking the PSW Bronze in 2009 and the PSW Silver medal in 2010. Ian started at Pacifica in 2005 starting their six consecutive PSO WGI medals from 2005-2010. In the fall of 2005 he started building the Los Alamitos percussion program becoming the 2007 WGI PSA Bronze medalist, 2009 WGI PSA Gold medalist and 2010 World class finalist. He worked at Fountain Valley HS from the fall of 2006 until the winter of 2009, winning multiple percussion titles in the indoor and outdoor programs, including a two time WGI finalist in the Open class and an Open class medal in 2008.

      He started with the Pulse Percussion independent world ensemble behind the scenes in the winter of 2008 as an arranger, and within 3 short years helped take the ensemble to it’s first PIW Gold Medal in 2010 as the front ensemble composer/ arranger and instructor. Starting in the summer of 2009, Ian was brought on as the electronic consultant/arranger with the world famous Cadets drum and Bugle corps.

      After being encouraged to venture into writing for winds, he now designs and composes the fall productions for multiple high schools in the Southern California area. 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.

      Along with fellow designer and instructor John Mapes, he co-founded box-six.com in August of 2008, which is the exclusive seller of their original indoor percussion and marching band shows.

      Ian is an official Yamaha artist, 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 proud endorser of Remo and Zildjian products.