DIRECTORS
Contact Information
Nate Hughes
Director of Bands
Nate Hughes was recently appointed to the role of Director of Bands at South Forsyth High School. Before beginning his time at SFHS, he served for 6 years as the Assistant Director of Bands at South Forsyth Middle School. During his tenure at South Middle, the SFMS Symphonic Band 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 Inservice Conference, and as a featured ensemble at the University of Georgia’s Middle School Honor Band Festival “MidFest.” While serving in that role, he was awarded the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence on three 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 as well as a cast member of Rhythm X Winds from Dayton, Ohio. Nate has served on the instructional staffs 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 as the Program Director of the 2025 WGI Winds Independant A Silver Medalist "Obsidian Winds," which he co-founded. He also spent 5 years on the visual staff of WGI Percussion Independent World Finalists 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.
Contact Information
Eric Brown
Associate Director of Bands - Percussion Director
Prior to his appointment as the South Forsyth High School Assistant Director of Bands, Eric Brown served as the Director of Percussion Studies at Lambert High School in Suwanee, GA. In his time at Lambert, the drumline has been the WGI Percussion World Championships Scholastic A Class Bronze Medalist, three-time GIPA Percussion Scholastic World Class Gold Medalist, and WGI World Championships Percussion Scholastic World Class Finalist.
In addition to his work at Lambert, Mr. Brown operates a drum repair and restoration shop and works closely with many other percussion programs in the North Georgia Area. Eric received his undergraduate and master's degrees in Percussion Performance from the University of Georgia and the University of Missouri-Columbia, respectively. Mr. Brown was a marching member of the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps and WGI World Class Finalist ensembles Pariah Indoor and Odyssey Percussion Theatre.
Eric is a member of the Percussive Arts Society and proudly endorses Zildjian Cymbals, Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, and Remo drumheads. He currently lives in Suwanee, Georgia, with his wife, Tonya Mashburn, and their dog, Noodle.
Joshua Menken
Director of Color Guard
Originally from Coweta, Oklahoma, Joshua was a part of the colorguard program at his high school from 2010-2012. After he graduated he would go on to perform with several independent organizations within the WGI and DCI activities including: The Crossmen in 2012, The Cavaliers in 2013, 2015, and 2016, Eclectix Winterguard in 2013, 2014, and 2015, The Pride of Cincinnati in 2017, Bluecoats Indoor 2018, CGT Dallas 2019, CGT Denton 2020, and Paramount Winterguard in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Currently, Joshua is a Graphic Artist for Band Today, producing graphics for uniforms, flags, props, floors, etc. for Marching Band and Colorguard programs across the country.
