Drum roll, please.

Famed percussion quartet Ethos has arrived at Penn State with Grammy Award-winning drummer Glen Velez and will perform at 8 p.m. tomorrow in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Ethos actually arrived in town Wednesday and spent yesterday engaged with State College fans in a community drum circle, Ethos' Yousif Sheronick said.

However, the main reason Ethos and Velez are here is tomorrow's Earth/Rhythms concert, where they'll be joined by Penn State's University Choir.

Fans of percussion expecting mostly Western instruments will get something different, but Sheronick said they wouldn't be disappointed by what they see.

"We're trying to expose people to different instruments, like Indian drums and African drums," he said. "Everyone's seen a snare drum."

All four members of Ethos are students of world music, and they see touring as a way to expose Western music fans to something new, Sheronick said.

"(Concert attendees) are going to see a very energetic group play music they've never heard before with instruments they've never seen before," he said.

World music is often characterized by wild improvisation. But Ethos builds its music around strict arrangements put together by modern-day composers, Sheronick said.

"We don't do a lot of improvising," he said. "Percussion's a new concept compared to other music. Bach didn't write for percussion. So we commission works by other composers and end up with music like that of the 1940s, based in tradition."

Past concerts by Ethos have featured "found" instruments like plastic containers, but Sheronick said tomorrow's show will be performed with all "real" instruments, with only a few of them being Western. He said Velez will get in on the fun by using non-Western instruments as well.

Velez will perform solo with a bodhran, which Sheronick called "an Irish instrument that's usually played with a stick, but Glen's applied it to his hands."

Velez will also do some overtone singing, which is singing in two pitches at the same time.

Sheronick said that State College would react well to Ethos' music. While Ethos has never played Penn State, Sheronick was here several years ago with another band.

"It's a Big Ten town with a sense of community," he said. "When you're a city like that there are small groups into art, small groups into music, small groups into poetry. We're a chamber music ensemble that applies to all audiences. Most of our music is world-influenced, so it's very accessible."

Tickets for tomorrow's performance can be obtained at Eisenhower Auditorium or by calling 814-863-0255. Tickets are $20 for general audience members, $5 for University Park students, $15 for other Penn State students and $10 for children 12 and younger.