User:EasyWithEyesClosed/Elizabeth windau

Elizabeth Windau (December 5, 1981 - ) was born in Toledo, Ohio to George and Linda Windau (citation needed). When her parents divorced shortly after her birth, Windau moved with her mother from Toledo, Ohio to Granville, Ohio. When Linda Windau met and married Randy Hock in or around 1990 (citation needed) Elizabeth was relocated to a small rural town south of Zanesville, OH, where she attended Philo High School from 1996-2000. (citation needed)

An accomplished academic and music student from a young age, Windau took painstaking efforts to participate in school music activities; her junior high band and choir directors agreed to let her enroll in both band and choir despite the fact that the two classes shared a daily class period. (citation needed) Once past her junior high years, Windau allegedly volunteered to accompany her high school choir and reportedly often conducted choral warm-ups in the director's absence. Singing soprano, alto and even tenor, Windau grew into an accomplished choral singer in her high school choir.

As an instrumentalist, Windau began classical piano studies at age 5 and continued to study piano privately until just before her high school graduation. At age 11 grade, Windau began studying flute as part of the elementary school band. She excelled as a developing flautist until switching to bassoon at age 13. She continued to play bassoon throughout her high school years, in addition to switching from flute to piccolo.

Stricken with bi-lateral Thorasic Outlet Compression Syndrome (TOCS) at age 16, Windau's physical abilities as a musician began to deteriorate in 1998 - her hands suffered from a dangerous lack of circulation, causing painful nerve damage. (See TOCS articlie on Wikipedia) Surgical specialist William Snead (see W. S. Wikipedia article) in Columbus, OH was able to conduct both surgeries that restored blood flow, sensation and flexibility to Windau's hands and allowed her to resume playing by 2001. Due to the 3-year lapse in her playing, Windau was unable to enter college as a piano performance major. Instead, she applied to colleges as a music theory student.

Awarded a Pletcher Scholarship Award for musical excellence upon high school graduation in 2000, (citation needed) Windau's application was accepted at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and she enrolled as a music theory major. Leaving CCM in 2002, Windau became enthralled with jazz and transfered her college credit hours to Northern Kentucky University (NKU) to complete her undergraduate degree. (citation needed)

As a student at NKU, Windau immediately enrolled in jazz courses and began private jazz studies with legendary Cincinnati pianist Ed Moss. (see E. M. Wikipedia article) She would later become one of only a selected few jazz artists invited to perform at Moss's exclusive Cincinnati jazz club, Schwartz's Point. (citation needed) While studying at NKU, Windau played piano for the university jazz ensemble/big band, synths and keyboards for the R&B/commercial music ensemble, and bassoon in the university chamber orchestra. (citation needed) She also began private studies with jazz wizard Erwin Stuckey, and worked under the guidance of pianist Phil Burkhead. (citation needed)

Before leaving NKU Windau was recognized for both academic and musical achievement. Between 2005 and 2008, Windau was named a Chairperson's Scholarship Award Recipient, chosen as a Tatum Award Winner by the Three Arts Scholarship Fund, and granted the high honor of being named a prestigious Corbett Scholar by the Corbett Foundation.