When Ji-Young Jeoung first heard Ball State music professor Robert Palmer play piano, it was at a recital in South Korea. Palmer was a friend of Jeoung’s piano teacher, who was encouraging her to come to America to study at Ball State.

Jeoung was so impressed with Palmer’s performance, she did just that. As a doctoral student studying piano and organ performance, she’s been able to take full advantage of working with such distinguished professors as Palmer and Kirby Koriath, practicing and performing in Ball State’s state-of-the-art facilities, and learning to play a world-class pipe organ right on campus.

“The School of Music has excellent facilities and many opportunities for student performances,” she says. “We are very fortunate to have the pipe organ. It compares with the finest organs in the U.S. and abroad and is placed in an excellent acoustical space, Sursa Performance Hall.”

Jeoung says she has learned so much—particularly about organ playing—since she arrived in the United States. “It’s been really challenging, and both the professors and other students have opened my mind to many new things,” she says.

In her time at Ball State, she has done it all—accompanying major soloists, ensembles, choirs, orchestras, and more; teaching music to students at area colleges and universities; playing organ music for local congregations. And when she completes her degree in 2009, she plans to continue with all those endeavors.

“My experience at Ball State has helped me to be ready for the real world,” she says. “Actually, I’m already a part of it!”

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