With a name derived from American Indian mythology, the Turtle Island String Quartet has gained a reputation for rewriting the rules about what chamber music is.

“In the myth, the North American continent supposedly exists on the back of a turtle,” says cellist Mark Summer.

“With the quakes in California, you can see where they might have got that from.”

Founded in the early 1980s by violinist David Balakrishnan, the quartet has been about expanding musical boundaries since its creation.

Over its 19-year history, the Turtle Island String Quartet has experimented with musical styles, including folk, bluegrass and big band, even tinkering with bebop and rhythm and blues.

Summers says Turtle Island is best known, however, for their combination of classical and jazz music. While what the quartet plays has Euro-centric classical roots, the group’s style is an American original.

“We are basically a formal string quartet,” Summer says. “We play a very wide variety of music, most of it classically based. However, we prefer to call ours an ‘American Vernacular’ style.”

While the quartet does do a great deal of improvisation, Summers says the music is written to allow for that. He says improv is normal, however, especially in big band music.

Turtle Island’s membership has been changed very little over the years in comparison to its musical repertoire. The core membership has mainly consisted of Summers and Balakrishnan, with violinist Evan Price joining in 1997. The viola spot, however, has been a little bit more fluid.

“We are currently touring with a young man named Jeremy Kittle,” Summer says.

“Jeremy is a prodigy on the viola and is 19 years old. We are extremely happy to have him on tour with us.”

Summer also says the members of Turtle Island likes changes, not only in the music they play, but in their audiences as well.

“We want everybody to enjoy our music,” Summer says. “Obviously, our core audiences are fans of traditional chamber music. We have recently noticed, however that a lot of people in the audience are young people. That’s because younger people are more open to all types of music.”

Over the years, Turtle Island has toured all over the United States and in Europe. Summer says the group has played in every state but Hawaii and recently played its first concert in Mexico.

Summers said Europe and Germany in particular have been great places to tour over the years.

“The Germans have really taken a real liking to our sound,” Summer says.

“They have been very gracious to us over the years. We love to tour there.”

Although the quartet’s choice of music has changed over the years, Summer says the format remains the same.

“We have a truly American way of looking at music,” Summer says. “We love the classics; that will never change, Through our music, however, I hope that we show people that are there new ways to look at it.”

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Who: Turtle Island String Quartet

Where: Sheslow Auditorium, Drake University

When: 8 p.m.Saturday

Cost: $12.50 students, $31.50 public