For Ball State graduate student Jooyoung Kim, months of intense daily practice came down to a few anxiety-filled minutes on stage at a prestigious international piano competition.

Her nervousness melted as her fingers skipped across the Steinway's keys, finding just the right playful touch for a Beethoven sonata, Opus 31, No. 3 in E flat major, and a resonating gentleness for a prelude and fugue by Bach.

The judges were moved; Kim won second place in the 12th biennial international piano competition sponsored by the Beethoven Club in May 2007.

"I'm really, really happy," Kim said. "It is really a great honor for me and a very worthy recognition of Ball State and the School of Music."

Bob Palmer, Kim's mentor at Ball State, describes her technique as dazzling and her musical interpretation as maturing wonderfully. It's high praise from the Ruth Weldy Mauzy and Mary Weldy Porter distinguished professor of music, who noted the countless hours the student from Seoul, South Korea, spent preparing.

"The degree takes a great deal of time and dedication for all students, but it's even more demanding when you factor in the extra challenges faced by international students, especially since English is their second language," Palmer said.

This is not Kim's first success during an international piano competition. She was a semifinalist in the Bosendorfer International Piano Competition in Tempe, Arizona, in January 2007.

"Certainly, we've had a fair number of our alumni who have achieved success in international competitions and on the international stage after graduation, but this is the first time I can recall a current student receiving such acclaim," Palmer said. "It speaks well for Ball State and the School of Music. It says we have really gifted and talented students here."