The first String Thing was born from a bucket of discarded piano bass strings. From idea to executed project, it took about 4 days. We came up with the concept of a stringed instrument that is stretched between two bodies in a few hours of memorable brainstorming. A day or so later, we fastened the strings, found in scrap bins, with nails on two blocks of scrap wood, but they were rusty and unwieldy and much too thick to be pulled taught between two bodies. At their best they produced a low resounding thud. To compensate for the Thing’s lack of acoustic ability at the time, the strings were attached to a Touch Board, a touch activated electronic microcontroller, which activated recorded samples of bowed strings and voices. So, each string had different sounds linked to them, and we could still stand about 6ft apart, enticing a visual aesthetic we were extremely excited to develop. 

A year later, the second String Thing came to fruition, this time made of harpsichord strings and a cigar box, fashioned with guitar pegs, heart-shaped holes, and bridges. These strings are strong and thin, bending and stretching with the bodies that animate them. The main element we wanted was that it could produce sound acoustically, with some help of amplification. We also needed a way to “tune” the strings, meaning they could all just be the same length between us, with just different material and thickness of string, copper and silver. Inside one box, which was made of an old jewelry box, is an Arduino, an electronic microcontroller, which attaches to an accelerometer-based glove and potentiometers. Our original concept was that one hand would “activate” the strings (whether that be by bowing or plucking), then the other’s motion controls the processing. Since then, we’ve learned that this instrument is capable of mastery. With every practice, we continue to find new techniques and build a strong sense of trust and deep listening between us, making it an exciting project that will continue to grow for years.

String Thing #2 exists in the space between our two bodies that wear it. We are its backbone. Without us it makes no sound.

Fae Ordaz is a sound artist, musical instrument designer, and experimental performer from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work blends tactile sound-making with vocal improvisation, creating rich, chaotic sonic environments where melody, noise, and resonance collide. Using hand-built instruments, strings, feedback loops, and her own voice, she crafts melodies that emerge and dissolve within layers of tangible noise, often drifting between music and sculpture. Visual storytelling plays a central role in Ordaz’s performances—she works with shadows, puppetry, and movement to shape the atmosphere, creating immersive experiences where the sonic and visual intertwine. A visual artist as well, her work in woodworking, textiles, and animation directly informs the construction of her hand-built instruments. She works as the co-treasurer of Modern Music Guild (MMG), where she organizes experimental music events and oversees booking and budgeting for the student-run collective, and as a singer at Christ Episopalian Church in Oberlin. Ordaz is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music Degree in Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) at Oberlin Conservatory.

Penina Biddle-Gottesman is a rising senior Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) major and musicology minor at Oberlin Conservatory. She studied the cello growing up in Berkeley at The Crowden School of music, and started composing music in the eighth grade at the John Adams Young Composers program. Penina has worked as a sound designer for several films and theatre productions, most notably composing music for multiple productions at Marin Theatre Company. As a performer she has opened for notable experimental musicians, including Lydia Lunch and Aaron Dilloway. Her current areas of study are instrument design, film scoring, installation-based performance, and Jewish music history. Penina works as a promoter for Oberlin's Dionysus Discotheque, and as a singer at the Christ Episcopalian Church in Oberlin. She is also an organizer of Oberlin's Modern Music Guild. She now spends her summers teaching kids about graphic scores and contemporary music at the John Adams Young Composers program - the place where she was first brought into the world of composition.