4 RAPS SHEET n SEPTEMBER 2022 Upcoming RAPS events. OCTOBER Thursday, October 20 “The Inside Story on Who First Planted Pinot Noir in Oregon. It Might Not Be Who You Think,” a presentation by Michael Alberty, wine writer for The Oregonian. To be held in Smith Memorial Student Union. NOVEMBER Thursday, November 17 A presentation by Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and general manager of Kristof Family Farms in Yamhill, Oregon, on the challenges facing Oregon and his vision for addressing them. In-person or Zoom to be determined. DECEMBER Thursday, December 8 Annual Holiday Party, Augustana Lutheran Church in Northeast Portland. MARY HALL KOGEN, a professor of music who served Portland State for 26 years, died at her home on June 5 at age 78. Professor Kogen was born January 28, 1944, in Rochester, Minnesota, to Elizabeth Cargill and Byron E. Hall. She graduated in 1966 with a bachelor of music and in 1968 with a master of music from Northwestern University, where she studied under Guy Duckworth, a pioneer of group piano pedagogy. She was an adjunct professor of piano and pedagogy at Eastern Illinois University before joining the Portland State faculty in 1979. In an article by Valerie Brown in the fall 1995 edition of PSU Magazine, Professor Kogen described how her dream of a performance career ended before it began. “I was best at my high school but at Northwestern I was the worst,” she said, a realization that convinced her that a career in piano performance wasn’t possible. According to the article, “Kogen’s profound disappointment turned into anger at ‘the system.’ “‘I was cutting class, acting out,’ (Kogen) says. Finally, one of her professors, Dr. Guy Duckworth, took her aside and asked her what was going on. ‘I let him have it,’ Kogen says, about all the things that were wrong with the university and the country. But to Kogen’s surprise, Duckworth said he was grateful for her honesty and offered to make a deal with In memoriam: Mary Hall Kogen, 1944-2022 her. She had to agree to attend his classes, but would be free to challenge him every time she thought he was wrong. This arrangement worked out so well that the next year Kogan became his assistant.” It was Duckworth who told her she could be a gifted teacher. She earned a master’s in music education and incorporated Duckworth’s methods into her own teaching. After her stint at Eastern Illinois, where Professor Kogen won the outstanding faculty award, she moved to Portland State. In the PSU Magazine article, she described her interview at PSU. “Kogen was asked to play the piano. ‘I said, “No. If you want a performer, don’t hire me. Why hire me? Because I will establish the finest pedagogy program on the West Coast.”’ Instead of performing, Kogen taught a sample lesson for the hiring committee to observe. She got the job.” The PSU piano pedagogy program had six students in 1980; by 1995 it had 30, and 50 students had completed the master’s program. Professor Kogen also created a youth summer camp through Self Enhancement Incorporated. It ran for 10 years, teaching rhythm, melody, ensemble singing and playing, and performance to at-risk inner-city children. In retirement she taught classes and held workshops on both piano pedagogy and TaKeTiNa, an experimental rhythm system, at schools, universities, and conferences, as well as at her Portland studio. It was a retirement that Professor Kogen predicted in the PSU Magazine article: “In old age, she says, ‘I’m going to buy a house in northeast Portland and give free lessons. Be a funky old lady.’” Professor Kogen was a member of the Oregon Music Teachers Association and was a recipient of the Nellie Tholen Excellence in Teaching award in 2020. She also wrote two children’s books and, for her granddaughter, recorded a musical CD entitled Grandmere Sings for Elli. When she wasn’t teaching, Professor Kogen enjoyed travel, gardening, and cooking, as well as collecting frogs and wind chimes. Professor Kogen is survived by her partner, Harold Gray, of Portland; her daughters, Leah Kogen Busam, of Denver, and Amy Kogen Ellis, of Salem; her granddaughter, Elli Busam; and her brothers, Robert C. Hall and Byron E. Hall, Jr. Remembrances in Professor Kogen’s memory may be made to the Mary Hall Kogen Coordinate Movement Endowed Scholarship, which facilitates classes and events focused on health and well-being for musicians, at the Portland State University Foundation, www.giving.psuf.org.
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