American and South Korean bands will be playing together and sharing musical styles on Thursday.

The Akademie Percussion Ensemble, a group from South Korea, and Galaxy Percussion, a group in America, will be playing together in the Dvorak Concert Hall in the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Akademie Percussion Ensemble is made up of seven young musicians who graduated from Akademie Percussion Ensemble in South Korea.

The school is for young percussionists from high school to college age.

Members of Galaxy Percussion, a group formed in 2003, include: Michael Udow, a retired professor of music from the University of Michigan; Roger Braun, professor of percussion at Ohio University; Anthony DiSanza, a professional percussionist; and Jamie Ryan, a professor of music at Eastern.

The Akademie Percussion Ensemble is directed by Kang Ku Lee, Ryan said.

Ryan said the groups will play compositions ranging for percussion from classical to western music.

“All of the music the members from South Korea will be playing and will be by South Korean composers,” Ryan said. “The Galaxy Percussion will be playing music from our members, Michael Udow and Rodger Braun.”

The two groups joined together in a tour of South Korea during the 2010 Korea Fest Tour.

“Each group has a grounding in western, classical music,” Ryan said. “It’s an extension of what we do normally.”

The groups toured together during the summer of 2010 and performed at many different locations in South Korea.

Ryan said they thought it would be good to invite them on a tour through the United States.

The tour started at Ohio University on Oct. 31 and it was their first performance in the United States.

The tour also includes Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin and Eastern.

Ryan said it was not difficult to combine music and work together.

He said the only difficultly they have had is the language barriers.

Ryan said during rehearsals they have a difficult time communicating messages to one another.

“The Koreans’ English is actually a lot better than it was in 2010 when we were there, but the four of us can’t speak any Korean,” Ryan said.

Ryan said despite the language barrier, they are having fun communicating.

“Mostly, we can communicate musically very well,” Ryan said.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Ryan said he thinks the concert can connect with many different people.

“There is a lot of different sounds, a lot of different equipment,” Ryan said. “I do think there is something everyone will find something to enjoy at this concert.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.