The Korean Traditional Play Association is prepared to expand its spotlight.

Formed in the early 1990s, KTPA is a group of 11 University undergraduate and graduate students who meet every Monday and Thursday evening behind the Hugh Hodgson music school to practice samulnori, a genre of Korea’s oldest traditional music.

Samulnori is played with two drums and two gongs, with multiple people playing each instrument to create a unified sound. They play outside of the building, facing River Road due to the high volume of the music.

The group’s president, Hyong Ji Kim, a junior from Alpharetta, said the group tries to “promote Korean culture as well as familiarizing people with traditional Korean music.”

With recent news that Kim Duk-soo, the founder of the samulnori genre, is launching an international tour, Kim hopes publicity “can translate into an international awareness of Korean traditional music, maybe even in Georgia and the University community.”

The four instruments – kkwaeng-gwa-ri, jang-gu, buk and jing – represent weather conditions: lightning, rain, cloud and wind, respectively.

Elise Choe, a freshman from Lawrenceville, plays the jang-gu, an hourglass-shaped drum beaten at its ends with two thin sticks.

Choe, who has played for five years, said she began when she followed her mother to her practices back home. When she came to the University, she heard about the group and was interested immediately.

“I play the jang-gu because it plays the melody. It’s the foundation,” Choe said. She said changing instruments later on is not difficult, although the leader usually plays the kkwaeng-gwa-ri, the small, tin-sounding gong that holds the beat.

Samulnori can be developed further into fusion music, as many modern groups are doing. Usually a mixing of jazz or hip-hop, “it just has so much potential,” Hyong Ji Kim said.

The group is hosting an information session today in room 267 of the Student Learning Center at 6:30 p.m. for prospective members, Korean and non-Korean alike.