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To the editor:

Davie County is an exciting place for music.

Just a few months ago, I was at a music store in Lewisville. I was buying a music book and I was talking with a lady who worked there. She asked where I played in a band and I said Davie County.

Her response? That Davie County is an exciting place for music. I agreed, but I didn’t really start to think about what she had said until I got home.

That’s when I fully realized it—she was completely right. Davie County is a very exciting place for music.

Beginning with the promotion of band programs to rising sixth graders, Davie youth are bestowed with a love for music that, in many counties, would be quickly forgotten.

But in Davie County, the tireless effort of band directors in our middle schools and high school has resulted in some of the best band performances in the state. In 2019, the Davie High Wind Ensemble performed Danse Bohemian, a piece by Randall Standbridge. The result? A written congratulation from Standbridge himself. The hard work of the Davie High Wind Ensemble and their conductor is why that awesome achievement took place.

The collaboration of our school system with band programs has led to well-funded, supported, and promoted bands and has resulted in a youth body that loves music and displays that love in creative, passionate ways.

I am a testament to this. I had no musical knowledge whatsoever in my first year of middle school and didn’t partake in the band. In seventh grade, I had a change of heart and decided to play the oboe. I’ve done great—a testament not only to the hard work being promoted by the band program but to how supportive and informative it is.

Music is one of my favorite things in the world now, and that wouldn’t be true without the support of the Davie County band programs.

Sylas Johnson, Mocksville