I've taken numerous classes with Professor Kim and he has endorsed me enough to where he let me take 4 classes all within one quarter! Is he hard? Not as much as one might think. Practice is key, but so is it with any other class and he expects you as a student to study for it all the same. For melodic instruments (Kayagum, Sogum etc.) you need to be able to read the ancient Chinese characters! And for the rhymic instruments (especially Changoo) you need to be able to listen to his playing as well as others. I help him now as a T.A. and like I've said before, I'm not Korean. It's extremely fun and for some extremely challenging. So why not take it? You'll feel more confident and better about yourself by the time you get out.

DON'T LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE BELOW ME.
One, yes, when I took 91 J we wrote one paper, but in the Winter none for the advanced and in Spring Quarter we have the chance to play Buk So Ri II and III at UCI and other places. And I'm also not Korean and most of the people in the class are NOT Korean because they are almost a minority here at UCLA. And the only gripe I have is that most of it is just follow the leader, rather than actually following the sheet music, but that's how Korean traditional works. This is a great class and you learn a lot if you really UNDERSTAND that Buk So Ri Salmonuri is meant to be emotional, but also a connection between the musicians. Plus this class is an easy A. It's been my favorite of the ensembles so far and it'll be the one I'll continually take until he kicks me out!