Nate Hughes - Program Director

Nate Hughes currently serves as Assistant Director of Bands at South Forsyth Middle School in Cumming, Georgia, where he has been since 2019.  During his tenure at South Middle, the SFMS Symphonic Band has been awarded the Georgia Music Educators Association’s “Exemplary Performance Award,” and has been invited to perform at the Music For All National Concert Band Festival, the Music For All Southeastern Regional Festival, the National Band Association’s Southern Division Regional Conference, the GMEA State Conference, and as a featured ensemble at the University of Georgia’s Middle School Honor Band Festival “MidFest.” While serving in this role, he has been awarded the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence on two occasions.  A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Nate received his Bachelor of Music degree from Austin Peay State University.  Nate was a member of the trumpet section of 7-time Drum Corps International World Champion The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from Rosemont, Illinois.  He was also a cast member of Rhythm X Winds from Dayton, Ohio.  Nate has served on the instructional staff of several high schools in Tennessee, Texas, and Georgia, as well as drum corps as Assistant Visual Captionhead at Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps, on the brass staff at Spirit of Atlanta, and as Assistant Brass Captionhead at Music City Drum Corps.  Currently, Nate serves on the visual staff of the WGI Percussion Independent World group Atlanta Quest.  Nate programs marching band shows for numerous bands across the United States, in addition to composing original music, writing drill, and staging winter guards.  He is also an active adjudicator and can be found judging both performance and effect captions.