It's a harmony that's been ten weeks in the making.

Since March, volunteers like Tina Clara Lee from the Richmond County Orchestra, have spent two hours a week mentoring music students at Curtis High School.

"Many of these students are only able to take orchestra as a class, they don't have access to private lessons yet, so I am able to give them the one on one time that they may not otherwise get from their regular orchestra program" said Tina Clara Lee, a violinist with the Richmond County Orchestra

It is all in preparation for their end of year performance, in which students get to play alongside the professionals.

"We've had many school concerts but this is different because we get to perform with an orchestra" says Gabrielle Novak a Curtis High School senior.

The partnership between the Orchestra and Curtis High School goes back almost a decade.

But, the mentorship program has only been around three years and in that short time volunteers say they are eager to return year after year.

"I really love what I do as a musician” said Clara Lee.  “And I hope that when I make music it reached people from a mental and a heart perspective and coming to the school is a way of hopefully conveying that gift  to the next generation."

With an already vibrant music program including 3 bands and a chorus, Curtis music teacher, James Minenna says working with the orchestra gives students a different take on music making.

"The ability to work side by side with the professionals on stage adds another dimension that is not available at any school."

Vanessa Perina, a sophomore at Curtis added,

"I wouldn't have grown as much within these past few months without the professional coaching i received.”

And the volunteers will tell you, the students aren't the only ones to get something out of the collaboration.

"It’s nice to see sort of that youthful experience. Kind of to be reminded of why we started playing, why we love music to begin with" says Clara Lee.

And so for cutting back their own practice time to make sure students hit all the right notes, members of the Richmond County Orchestra are our Staten Islanders of the Week.