PSU Magazine Fall 1995

onl y the kid but the many ad ults who arc in volved, from the SEI staff to Kogen's musica l helpers. Judy Rose is one who has blo omed under Kogen's mentorship. In add ition to involving Ro e in the camp, Kogen has encour– aged Rose to fo llow her musica l talent, stay in school, and keep pushing to earn a master's degree in music education. "Just from the word go we rea lly hit it off and clicked and bonded really fast, as student and teacher and also as fri ends," Rose says. "She's been very influenti al in some of my decisions." Rose is a gifted singe r and song– writer who eems a bit surprised at the affection she insp ires in the kid . "You can ge nerally tell after a day of being around them which kids are going to take the week a little bit more seri – ously than ju ta camp," she says. "By Thursday, the light bulbs sta rt clicking and kids are say ing, 'Oh, I get thi concept.' It's just a wonderful proces to watch. You think they're not go ing to get it, and then all of a sudden, wham! They understand." At the moment, Ro e is taking time off from school to earn money, work– ing at Pay less, teaching, and conduct– ing around town. If Kogen has anything to say about it, Rose will soon be back at PSU, and she' ll neve r be far from the camp. "I plan on doing it for the rest of my life," Rose says. "If I'm still work– ing at Payless, I'll take my vacation to do the camp. I get so much from it." Rose's testimonial sums up what Kogen is able to do with people. Her energy matches that of the kids in both quantity and quality. "My whole life has changed because of this camp," Kogen says. "I've never been so happy and never felt such purpose. I owe a lot of this to Judith Ramaley. She started the PSU commu– nity focus." The camp is a work in progress, and Kogen is already turning over ideas for improvement so that next year can be better. Some of the compos ition lessons this year didn't go so well, and Kogen wants to improve the way the camp teaches the bas ic concepts of note patterns-step, kip, repeat-and to bring in some of her piano pedagogy tudents in practicum . But fo r Kogen, room fo r improvement simpl y means room fo r ideas, room fo r fun, room fo r community bonding. She plans to keep teaching fo reve r. In old age, she says, 'Tm go ing to buy a house in north ea t Portland and give free lessons. Be a funky old lady." D (Valerie Brown, a Portland freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to PSU Magazine.) She S got the beat Sprinavasa Bell (right) and Summer Martin earned I994 ~cholarships that • 1 o · • • ..n I If you ask Sprinavasa Bell's teachers what she might be doing when she grows up, they'll probably mention music. At ten, Sprina is a two-year veteran of the P U/SEI Summer Music Camp. She's also been helping Mary Kogen teach piano teacher by being a sort of generic tudent in Mary's pedagogy classe . When he ings Judy Rose's song "We've Got the Spirit" or pop idol De 'rees' "You Gotta Be," she overflows with relaxed confidence, moving gracefully to the music and ending the melody out loud and clear. On the other hand, if you ask Sprina what her future plans are, you'll hear something different. She has no less than three careers planned, and music i· not at the top of the list. First, she says, she aims to be an Olympic swimmer; then an Olympic gymna t; then an architect. As for music, she says, "If I lo e a job I can make a side job playing music." Sprina doesn't sound, look, or act like a kid from a tough, inner-city neighbor– hood. That's probably because her mother, Valda, and Self Enhancement Inc. have been doing their jobs very nicely. Valda clearly knows just how much she has to enrich Sprina's environment to provide what many kids take for granted. She's made sure that Sprina is exposed not only to music, but also to the other arts, science, and sports. It's working. Where Sprina ends up when she can fly on her own may surpri e everyone– but whatever she does, she'll be building on the habits and values she learns from music. After all, it' well known that music and architecture share many qualities. And, Sprina adds, "Music is kind of like swimming." D FALL 1995 PSU MAGAZINE 13