The History of Box Six

The History of Box Six

       "Box Six" was officially launched in August of 2008 and is a collection of our body of work from 2005 to the present. The main difference between this site and the many other sites available is that every single piece of music found on Box 6 is composed and arranged by the same two people. We (John Mapes and Ian Grom) met at Cal State University Long Beach in the music department in the Fall of 1998 and started actively working together from 2004 to the present. With over thirty five years of experience between us, a current output of around 10 shows a year, and a history of success at every level of the activity, we are confident in our signature sound and approach to the world of pageantry and are proud of what we have offered with these productions for the past 10 years and counting to the general public!

       Our fresh approach to Marching Band composition comes from a unique blend of elements: The painstaking development of pacing and effects taken from our experience in indoor percussion, the wide variety of musical influences we both bring to the table from our years as professional musicians/arrangers/composers, the seamless blend between winds and percussion that is present from the very conception of the production, the time-tested wisdom of what works and what doesn't in real life, and the drive to constantly push the creative envelope with every production we put our name on.

       The recordings you hear throughout the site were all created with the most cutting edge technology available and we believe them to be unrivalled in today's market. Innumerable hours are spent to achieve as accurate and thorough of a playback as possible to give you the best source for how to fine tune your Box 6 show in the live situation. Powered by 3 custom audio PC's, a separate Pro Tools rig for live tracking, and a massive 500+ GB sample library, the Box 6 production studio is one of the most advanced workstations around solely dedicated to the marching arts. However, there are no sounds or effects heard on the recordings that cannot be replicated in a live environment. We pride ourselves on being able to accurately reproduce the production quality of our recordings in a live performance situation.

       We have experienced most of the shows on this site up close and personal. We have experienced the flicker of an idea turn into a rough sketch which turned into World Championship success. This body of work is not just a business for us, it is a large part of who we are. We hope you and your students can enjoy it as much as we have!

You can email Box Six at: contact@box-six.com

About John Mapes:

About John Mapes:

       John Mapes is a full-time percussion educator and visual designer based out of Southern California. 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 15 years of drum corps teaching/design experience and an unprecedented 39 WGI medals since 2005.

       He started with Pulse Percussion behind the scenes in 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. Since then the ensemble has medaled 9 more times and obtained four more championships titles in 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2023! He was also heavily involved in starting the 2nd ensemble under the Pulse Inc umbrella, POW Percussion, which medaled it's first year out in 2011 PIO and has been a PIW finalist 9 times since. John joined the design team as the battery arranger for the Blue Stars Drum & Bugle Corps and worked there from 2013-2016. He worked with the Blue Devil B Corps as the percussion arranger from 2007 to 2012. After two years the corps became the Open class champions from 2009 to 2011 and received the high percussion award from 2009 to 2012 at the DCI championships. He was the Battery Arranger/ Percussion Caption Head for the Esperanza Drum & 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.

       From the fall of 2000 to the winter of 2011, John built and taught the Pacifica HS percussion program with 9 consecutive PSO WGI finals appearances and seven consecutive PSO WGI medals from 2005-2011. In the fall of 2005 he started teaching Chino Hills HS, WGI Scholastic World Class finalist's from 2008-2023. Chino Hills is currently an 12 time medalist and won the championship in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019! 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 2010/2011. 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 an official Yamaha Artist, a Vic Firth signature artist, a Remo artist and a Zildjian artist. He became a member of the WGI Advisory Board in 2007 and has been a member of the WGI Percussion Steering Committee since 2010.

You can email John Mapes at: mapes@box-six.com

About Ian Grom:

About Ian Grom:

       Ian Grom is a full time 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 39 WGI medals since 2005. 

       Some of his past 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. 

       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. Chino Hills is currently an 12 time medalist and won the championship in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019. Ian taught at Pacifica HS from 2005-2011 starting their seven consecutive PSO WGI medals. 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 2010/2011 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. Ian was a part of the Design team as a percussion arranger for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps from 2013-2016. Ian was brought on as the electronic consultant/arranger with the world famous Cadets Drum and Bugle corps from 2009-2012 winning the DCI World Class title in 2011.

       Ian started writing for winds in 2006 and composes the fall productions for multiple high schools all around the nation. Ian's use of original music, cutting edge technology, and innovative show concepts have made him one of the most sought-after composers on the national 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 Vic Firth signature artist, a Remo artist, a Zildjian artist and a WGI Percussion Advisory Board member since 2007.

You can email Ian Grom at: grom@box-six.com

Vic Firth

Vic Firth

Learn more about John and Ian by watching the Vic Firth indoor 101 series!

Vic Firth sat down with John Mapes and Ian Grom to cover ALL the basics you need to know in order to have a successful, indoor percussion ensemble.

If you design, teach or supervise an indoor marching percussion ensemble, this new series is for you!

Click here to watch the video installments!