Exploring Oregon's History Through Song

EXPLORING OREGON’S HISTORY THROUGH SONG

Karen Arlen, Douglas Card, Nancie Kester

OAKE National Music Conference

Downtown Hilton Hotel, Portland, Oregon

March 5 – 8, 2020

When I learned that the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE) was holding a national conference in Portland, Oregon, city of my birth, I knew that I had to be there. I persuaded my dear friends, Nancie Kester and Douglas Card to join me in presenting a workshop. Our proposal for EXPLORING OREGON’S HISTORY THROUGH SONG was accepted and we have been preparing for it ever since. It fits well into the theme of this conference: Music Education in the 21st Century. We believe that state and regional history through song should be a valid part of music education and also serve as inspiration to teaching across the curriculum.

Douglas, an Oregon historian/sociologist and author of FROM CAMAS TO COURTHOUSE: EARLY LANE COUNTY HISTORY acted as my mentor in this project (coincidentally, he has been my friend since early childhood in Medford, Oregon). Using a framework similar to those used for preparing workshops for California history through song, we delved into the history of Oregon, exploring countless books and journals and finding information online.  Nancie has been my fellow presenter in many workshops dealing with history through song at local, state and national conferences. She is an invaluable part of this Oregon presentation.  With the help and enthusiasm of Douglas, we are moving north!  

Oregon’s history is both interesting and complex. As a neighbor state, it touches upon California’s history. Some songs common to both can be found in our books THEY CAME SINGING and DAYS OF GOLD.  These can be found in chapters: Early Explorers to the Pacific Coast, Sea Routes and Sea Shanties, Songs from the Overland Trail and Gold Rush songs. We will include the beautiful old Chinese ballad Jasmine Flowers of the Sixth Moon from DAYS OF GOLD! to honor the Railroad Chinese who came up to Oregon and then worked on the Oregon-California Railroad and refer to the Hawaiian workers in the old Hudson Bay Company with the rousing sea shanty John Kanaka from THEY CAME SINGING.

In this one-hour OAKE session on March 6, we will present Oregon’s early history and share authentic songs of the times.  We have already collected more materials than we can use in this presentation. Perhaps there will be a follow-up publication in the future. We invite OAKE conference attendees who are interested in the History of Oregon through Song to come to our workshop and contact us if they wish to make some more contributions.

Karen Woodward Arlen