Beginning this month, 10 students began studying junior string repertory to form the String Orchestra for Northern Neck Youth (SONNY). They have completed elementary lessons with the Strings Crewe, a program to teach violin, viola and cello to 6-12 year-old students.

The Rappahannock Concert Association sponsors both the Strings Crewe and SONNY. Christina Totton is SONNY’s Music Director. Totton formed a junior string orchestra on Okinawa with military dependents as its musicians. In addition to teaching viola and violin to Strings Crewe and SONNY students, she now teaches at her private studio in Gloucester called “String Bean Music Studio.”

SONNY is the second phase of a long-range plan to form a youth orchestra by 2024, enrolling wind, brass and timpani musicians from the region’s excellent high school bands. “Without strings, there can be no orchestra,” said program director Sue Nunn.

SONNY will present concerts this November and in May 2022 at the Richmond County Element...