You Won’t Find It On YouTube

I’m a fingerstyle guitar enthusiast! So much so that I volunteer to write the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar weekly newsletter. I’ll post my articles here for your musical pleasure. Be sure to check us out online at http://www.fingerstyleguitar.ca  This article was originally printed in May 2008.

This week’s article is a little personal. By now, you’ve all heard about the changes at the TFGA/fingerstyleguitar.ca. And you’ve also heard about the exciting volunteer opportunities available within the new organization. So I thought this week, I’d share with you why I volunteer.

Oddly enough the day I started writing this article, I was at an Open Stage event and Noah asked me the same question. There’s a saying in the customer service field that for every question you receive, there are nine others thinking the same thing and too shy to ask. So for the other nine inquiring minds…

I don’t know if I have one dominant reason why I’m involved with Fingerstyleguitar.ca.

I volunteer because I love music. Anyone who is a regular reader of this newsletter knows that music gets my mojo going. It inspires me. It comforts me. It gets me through the major and minor events of my life. It keeps me company when I’m working, or travelling or getting my sweat on at the gym. It’s like the song in that iPod commercial: music is my imaginery friend, my brother, my sister… my boyfriend

Okay - you get it, I love music. But I also love sharing my enthusiasm (i.e. quirkiness or as Mark Sepic kindly put it quasi-science obsession) with others who share the same passion. And the TFGA lets me do that at least once a week.

I volunteer with the newsletter because I love to write. I’m still working on my dream of writing the next Great Canadian novel. In the meantime, I get a kick out of having a captive audience who eagerly awaits my prolific prose every Monday (hey… a girl can dream, can’t she!).

But mainly I volunteer because I’m a closet Rock Star Wannabe and love the celebrity status that comes part and parcel of being the TFGA It Girl… known only by my first name like Cher or Madonna (though I’m considering changing my name to a treble clef and becoming “The Writer Formerly Known As Deborah”).

In all honesty, I volunteer because I can. Because I have (or think I have) certain talents and skills to contribute to a fantastic organization that gives me more than I give it.
Every time I attend an open stage or sit in the audience at a Main Stage Concert, I’m left with the unshakeable feeling that I’ve just witnessed genius unfold - in living colour - right before my eyes - and I want to be a part of spreading the magic.

There’s nothing like the power of live music. The notes are richer, performances more heartfelt. Ultimately I volunteer to do my part to ensure that there’s always a live perfomance to attend because, after all, you won’t get this on YouTube. Nothing compares to a live performance and I need your help to ensure that nothing ever will.