Jonathan McCollum, Professor of Music at

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

Chestertown, Maryland Chestertown is a town in Kent County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,252 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Kent County. History Founded in 1706, Chestertown rose in stature when it was named one of the English col ...

, is an ethnomusicologist and performer on the Japanese

shakuhachi A is a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

, trombone, and bass trombone. He is the founding Chair of the Historical Ethnomusicology section of the

Society for Ethnomusicology The Society for Ethnomusicology is, with the International Council for Traditional Music and thBritish Forum for Ethnomusicology one of three major international associations for ethnomusicology. Its mission is "to promote the research, study, an ...

, and is known for his work on the

music of Armenia The music of Armenia ( hy, հայկական երաժշտություն ''haykakan yerazhshtut’yun'') has its origins in the Armenian highlands, dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE, and is a long-standing musical tradition that encompass ...

and Japan.

Music Scholarship

McCollum is especially known for theoretical contributions to the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

of global music (historical ethnomusicology), and research studies into both the

and the

music of Japan In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese language, Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comfort). ...

, particularly

Zen Buddhist Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

ritual and shakuhachi flute tradition. As a musicologist, McCollum has contributed extensively to academic journals, encyclopedias, and music reference works, including most recently the ''Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', the ''Sage International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture'', and the ''New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments''. He has also worked as a consultant for the

Armenian Library and Museum of America Armenian Museum of America (AMA), located in Watertown, Massachusetts, United States, is an institution that has the largest collection of Armenian artifacts in North America. History In 1971, alarmed by the growing loss and destruction of Armen ...

, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, and ''Folkways Alive!'' of the Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. McCollum is the author of ''Armenian Music: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Discography'' (Scarecrow Press, 2004) and has contributed to many other volumes. He has co-edited (with

David Hebert David G. Hebert (; born 1972) is a musicologist and comparative educationist, employed as Professor of Music at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Bergen, Norway), where he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research grou ...

) the books ''Theory and Method in Historical Ethnomusicology'' (Lexington Books, 2014) and ''Ethnomusicology and Cultural Diplomacy'' (Lexington Books, 2022). He and Hebert are co-editors of a book series for

Rowman and Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

press, The Lexington Series in Historical Ethnomusicology: Deep Soundings.

Music Performance

McCollum holds the specialized Shihan 師範 (Master’s) license in shakuhachi performance and teaching, with the professional name (natori) “Kenzen (研禅)” earned primarily through studies under ''Dai Shihan'' (Grand Master) Michael Chikuzen Gould. As a professional performer, McCollum has also contributed to virtual instrument sample libraries; he is the shakuhachi player for Stealth Wind software (on Unearthed Sampling’s Kontakt platform), which is widely used by professional soundtrack composers for videos and films. McCollum is a former student o
John Drew
Professor of Trombone at Florida State University. McCollum works as a professional trombonist in the Washington, D.C. and Maryland areas.

Buddhist Practice

McCollum holds the dharma name, Seichō. He is a fully transmitted teacher (sensei) with the

White Plum Asanga White Plum Asanga, sometimes termed White Plum Sangha, is a Zen school in the Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi lineage, created by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi. It consists of Maezumi's Dharma heirs and subsequent successors and students. A diverse organization ...

and an ordained Sōtō Zen priest. He teaches a
Clare Sangha
in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCollum, Jonathan Shakuhachi players American ethnomusicologists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people