About the Designer - George Hester

George Hester has been designing drill since 2002 and to date has written over 60 custom shows for various marching bands and drum corps across the United States, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. He spent his first five years as a designer (2002-2006) studying with and learning from Mitch Rogers in drill design.

George's education includes studying trumpet performance at the University of Michigan and most recently at the University of Houston. During his time at UofM, George began teaching part time as a visual and music instructor for several high school marching bands, including the Novi high school marching band (1996-1998) and the 3-time BOA Grand National Champion Plymouth-Canton high school marching band (1996, 1999 and 2001).

A former marching member of 7-time DCI world champions The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps, George marched 4 seasons (1993, '96-'98) as a member of the soprano and mellophone sections.

From 2000-2001, George was a performer and cast member of the Emmy and Tony Award winning show, Blast! From the fall of 2000 until the spring of 2001, the original US touring cast performed in eight US cities, including performing at venues in London, England and Basel, Switzerland - as well as being the featured musical group, along with Harry Connick Jr. and his Big Band, at the 2001 NBA All-Star Game in Washington D.C.. In the spring of 2001, Blast! landed on Broadway and performed at the Broadway Theater from April 5 thru September 23, 2001.

In the winter of 2008, George completed his second season touring and performing with the Aimachi marching band from Nagoya, Japan. The Aimachi band has won the All-Japan National Championships 8 times since their first win in 1998, and they continue to be one of the elite marching bands in the country.

George currently resides at his home in Michigan and is working as a full-time visual designer for high school marching bands, drum corps and indoor drum lines. Besides drill design, George has begun several music arranging and composition projects that he hopes to be able to release in the near future.