Subject: [Harp-L] volunteers and harmonica festivals
"Mark writes:
"All I keep seeing is volunteer, in capitals , in quotes, excuses for
not doing much cause they volunteer, not being paid, etc.."
Excuse me - but this is a completely bogus statement. NOWHERE has
anyone claimed whatsoever that volunteers 'make excuses for not
doing much'!
Quite to the contrary, the volunteers for ANY harmonica convention
- the eleven I've attended so far - SPAH, Buckeye, GSHC, have gone
far beyond the call of duty any PAID worker would have gone -
precisely because they're not being paid ... they do it out of a
love for the instrument - and in furtherance of and promotion of
that very love and caring.
I've watched these people work from early morning until late at
night..practically out cold on their feet ...still pasting on
smiles and helping 'newbies' to their conventions such as
yourself. They don't get to enjoy much of anything of the
convention...since they're stuck behind tables, or in a small,
usually cold room for much of the night - handling 'details'.
You're completely misconstruing, misreading and/or deliberately
altering what's being said about the volunteers.
You need to reread.
Elizabeth
PS: comparing harmonica playing to model railroad hobbyists is
apples to oranges. Not at all the same thing. There are thousands
of Railroad Hobbyists who spend huge amounts of money on their own
home set ups and who make it a practice to take entire families on
outings to these kinds of events. They stop by for an hour or so.
I've done it myself. It simply isn't the same for a harmonica
convention when a large percentage of the attendees are there by
themselves and the numbers of the volunteers is miniscule in the
harmonica world by comparison.
I couldn't agree more with Rob on this particular matter. No one
involved with a SPAH or GSHC would be particularly comfortable with
a convention growing to such a huge degree....in fact, I'd hazard a
guess that even 1,000 people might be well beyond the reach of a
volunteer staff, especially for a Banquet dinner (does your
Railroad 'convention' include that, or performances by name
players?) - given that most of the people who DO volunteer are
people who either work part time, or are wives of harmonica players
donating their time while their husbands play, or retirees. They
are vastly underappreciated. I have no clue why they continue
working as hard as they do with the obvious knowledge now that they
are completely invisible to so many on this list who are perfectly
content to benefit from their hard work.
IF you are far more comfortable with the kind of 'convention' which
is set up and run with deep pockets then feel free to go to that
kind of planned-ahead 'for profit' event. There are harmonica camps
where everything is spelled out far in advance (easy enough when
there's plenty of money). It'll cost you around $1,000 for 5 days
- not including food and board, but you'll know in advance
everything you'll be learning. No such thing as paying for one day
only, afaik. You'll likely have to room with someone else and still
have the travel costs, but you'll be happy since you'll have your
'schedule'. That's all that's really important.
Perhaps you have no knowledge that the Garden State Festival was
given up on completely in 2008 - there was no festival that year.
Val Redler and Phil Caltabellotta decided they could not allow
their club's festival with its long history to die...so decided to
do it all themselves for 2009...with a little help from their club.
The previous year the club had forfeited a chunk of money on the
hotel. That had to be accounted for..and the club's finances
straightened out - with tons of work put in to turn it all around.
Val's accomplished this in the briefest time imaginable, while
still managing to put on an absolutely brilliant festival for 2009.
AND get a 'schedule' out 4 weeks ahead of the Fest last year -
something no other harmonica festival managed to do before.
The club had very few members who were able to do the kind of work
involved - so she took it on by herself. I watched her kill
herself for this Club and Festival.
To have someone like you complain repeatedly on harp-l 6 weeks in
advance of what's going to be her 2nd most brilliantly run festival
when she's working hard at this stage to still nail down performers
and people to give seminars ....is beyond the pale, and getting
quite silly. GIVE IT A REST! You've already been told you will be
guaranteed to have a good time - but I'll retract that now. I'm
quite sure you won't. I strongly suspect you're the kind of
individual who'll manage to make a sow's ear out of a silk
purse...and find fault with even the best of times.
Pah!