Olivia Love

Staff Writer

Adam Merrill is a freshman at ISU majoring in piano performance; however, this was not his original plan. When he was younger, Merrill was very active. He played sports and was as healthy as any typical nine-year-old boy.

He dreamed of becoming a professional athlete and flying planes for the military. He had no idea this would all change when he went to the doctor’s office to get some eye drops.

“They did a regular checkup and then told me, ‘Your blood pressure is pretty weird. We’re going to take some blood samples and get back to you at the end of the hour,’” Merrill said.

This is when he found out about the rather severe heart issues he had. Next thing he knew, he was headed to Seattle to have surgery.

Merrill remembered how unsuspecting he was of the health issues.

“I had none of the other side effects that are really common with it. It’s normally something that they notice when you’re a child.”

What is even more unusual is that the type of heart defect Merrill had is one that typically causes death in a highly active child. However, he was lucky and had been playing sports for many years without noticing anything was wrong.

While receiving treatment in Seattle, doctors discovered three different problems with Merrill’s heart.

The most severe was a coarctation of the aorta, which meant that one of the arteries taking blood away from his heart was too narrow to function efficiently.

In order to fix this, he ultimately had six separate heart surgeries.

One thing led to another and Merrill came to the conclusion that it was too dangerous for him to try and pursue a career in sports or flying planes.

Through all the trials he found a love for classical music.

“I just by chance picked up the piano. I googled how to read sheet music and I bought sheet music for ‘The Moonlight Sonata’ and I just learned note by note how to play it,” Merrill said.

He continued learning how to play and it eventually became a part of who he was.

Merrill summed up the significance of music to him.

“It gave me a lot more purpose to my life. Before it, I really wasn’t living.”

Merrill began studying music at ISU three years before he was an accepted student. At the age of 15, he was taken under the wings of several ISU piano professors.

Being able to study with such talented people gave Merrill the skills to compete in, and win the Music Teachers National Association Competition while still in high school.

“I was so nervous. But after I walked out on stage and performed, and had an encore, I knew that’s what I had to do.”

His prize was the opportunity to perform a concert accompanied by a full symphony.

Merrill competed in the same competition this last year, except this time in the collegiate division.

“There are many opportunities to grow and learn as a pianist.You can experience other people and how they play music,” Merrill said.

Going on to represent ISU and win the semifinals, he competed against graduate students from around the country.

Music continues to have a huge impact on Merrill’s life. He aspires to earn his doctorate in piano performance, as well as expand his skills in other areas of music.

He is now preparing for a concerto competition in April and is ultimately aiming to compete in the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition.