LASTER, James H. 1934-

PERSONAL: Born April 19, 1934, in Philadelphia, PA; son of J. Hayden (a Presbyterian minister) and Willie Nell (a homemaker; maiden name, Harold) Laster; married Madlon Travis, June 21, 1959; children: J. Travis. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Maryville College, B.A., 1956; Vanderbilt University, M.A., 1963, Ph.D., 1973; Catholic University of America, M.S. in L.S., 1992. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Music composition, acting, travel.

ADDRESSES: Home—125 Garden Ct., Winchester, VA 22601. E-mail—jlaster@shentel.net.

CAREER: Elementary schoolteacher in Tehran, Iran, 1957-61; Grove City College, Grove City, PA, assistant professor of music, 1966-67; Beirut College for Women, Beirut, Lebanon, associate professor of music, 1967-73; Shenandoah University, Winchester, VA, professor of music at Shenandoah Conservatory, 1973-2000, professor emeritus, 2000—. Worked as an organist and choirmaster for twenty-five years.

MEMBER: American Choral Directors Association, American Guild of Organists, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild.

WRITINGS:

Catalogue of Choral Music Arranged in Biblical Order, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 1983, supplement, 1996.

A Catalogue of Vocal Solos and Duets Arranged in Biblical Order, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 1984, 2nd edition, 2003.

A Discography of Treble-Voice Recordings, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 1985.

So You're the New Musical Director! An Introduction to Conducting a Broadway Musical, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 2001.

Annotated Bibliography of Music for Organ and Instruments, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), in press.

Composer of choral works published by various music publishers, including Treble Clef Press. Contributor to "Research Memorandum" Series.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A History of the Women's Choral Ensemble at the Collegiate Level in the United States from 1880 to the Present.

SIDELIGHTS: James H. Laster told CA: "Even though I have a number of published musical compositions and many others in manuscript, I do not call myself a composer because I have never studied composition. I write music because I need something for my choirs to sing or because someone has been nice enough to commission me to write for him.

"This description also fits my published books. I jokingly say that my only book with complete sentences is So You're the New Musical Director! An Introduction to Conducting a Broadway Musical, because the other titles are only lists! The musical director book came about when a student asked, 'Dr. Laster, what does a musical director do?' And he was a music theater major! My reaction was, if he had to ask that question, there might be people who are actually attempting to conduct a production and could use some help. A few ideas were jotted down and presented to a class I was teaching. The little pamphlet was expanded because of students' questions and comments.

"Need was also the stimulus for the catalogs. The Catalogue of Choral Music Arranged in Biblical Order evolved when I was searching for treble-voice settings of the 'Magificat' and 'Nunc Dimittis' for a women's ensemble I conducted. The project evolved into my cataloging Shenandoah's choral library to see how much of the collection used biblical texts. After collecting 500 or more titles, I asked if such a catalogue would be of help to church musicians trying to coordinate anthems with sermons or scripture readings. And a book was born. While going through piles of music, I noticed vocal solos with biblical texts. The following year there was another catalog.

"Since I am neither an author nor a composer, yet have both music and book publications, I would say that I've been fortunate!"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, June 15, 2001, Janet Brewer, review of So You're the New Musical Director! An Introduction to Conducting a Broadway Musical, p. 75.