Jay Keister

  • Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology
  • Co-Director, Japanese Traditional Music Ensemble
  • MUSICOLOGY
  • WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLES

Jay Keister, Associate Professor, is an Ethnomusicologist and scholar of Japanese music. Keister received the MA and PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles. His research concerns individual agency in music, embodiment of music traditions, aesthetics of music and traditional social structures in contemporary musical practice. 

His book Shaped By Japanese Music (2004 NY: Routledge) is the result of his research on traditional performance practice in contemporary Japan and his training in Japanese strings, flutes and percussion. He has published articles on Japanese music in the journals Ethnomusicology, Asian Music, The World of Music and on Japanese dance in Asian Theatre Journal. 

He also co-authored an article on progressive rock in the journal Popular Music.

Musicology   World music