Metea Valley High School has its share of fairly recent clubs, one of them being Korean Percussion. With their first meeting coming up soon, the club encourages participation and possible new members to join as soon as possible.
Jordan Yi established the Korean Percussion Club last year. The purpose of the group is to create a safe and welcoming space for the students of Metea.
“It comes down to creating a sense of belonging and community within our school,” Yi said. “It’s not so much about one specific culture as is learning about all cultures.”
Further inspiration occurred after Yi watched the Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago perform during the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade. After some communication between the two, the Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago asked if Yi would be interested in bringing out the concept in public schools.
It has been only two years since the club was founded, making it a more recent addition to Metea’s extracurriculars. Despite the short time it has since its establishment, the members have already gone on to do many events. They have performed at the Illinois Music Educators conference in Peoria, Northern Illinois University’s Worldwide Music Festival, multicultural fairs, and many other events. This year, the ensemble is hoping to perform in Metea’s winter concert: collage.
Joining the club allows students to explore a different culture and the musical background than they may be familiar with.The instruments are straight from Korea and play a specific style of music called Samulnori. The usual meeting consists of rehearsing with the drums and enjoying Korean snacks during the break times.
According to longtime member Megan Jones, students of all skill levels are welcome.
“You don’t even need percussion or really music experience since we’re not reading music,” Johns said.
Korean Percussion Ensemble holds their meetings in the band room with their first meeting this year on Oct. 17. It is open to all students, regardless of any kind of musical background.
