James Arthur Bond is an associate professor of English at California Lutheran University (Thousand Oaks, CA), where he has directed two interdisciplinary programs and teaches courses that connect the arts and humanities to other disciplines. A former assistant professor of English and director of the American Studies program at Valparaiso University, he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University (Bloomington), where he was awarded the William Riley Parker Teaching Award. Dr. Bond has considerable expertise in the areas of writing theory and pedagogy, American literature and periodicals, literacy and print culture studies, and English education. He is also a trained musician, and has drawn extensively from that background in both his teaching and research. His early scholarship focused on the literacy practices fostered by prominent nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, including the Century Magazine, Scribner’s Magazine, McClure’s, and the Strand.
More recently, he has been exploring the interdisciplinary and interpretive contexts of the music of composer Morten Lauridsen. Based on extensive interviews with the composer and a careful reading of his manuscripts, papers, and scores, the project has yielded–among other presentations and publications–two articles for the Choral Journal, published by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). The first article, “‘Thunderstruck’ by Art” (September 2018), illuminates Lauridsen’s unaccompanied motet, O Magnum Mysterium (1994), by tracing the influence of a seventeenth-century painting on the composing process. A second article, “Morten Lauridsen’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes: A Meditation on Psalm 121″ (September 2022), interprets the choral anthem in relation to Old Testament theology and the composer’s study of medieval music at the University of Southern California. A third article (in progress) will trace the genesis of Morten Lauridsen’s Prayer, a poignant setting of Dana Gioia’s poem of remembrance and hope. All three articles will be incorporated into longer chapters of the book Dr. Bond is writing on the composer’s music and life.
Find out how the author first discovered his compelling project on composer Morten Lauridsen. https://timelessmusicandpoetry.org/the-origin-of-my-scholarship-on-the-music-of-composer-morten-lauridsen-a-lesson-in-following-a-flash-of-insight/