String Song (2019) for amplified prepared kinetic sculpture and live electronics

String Song is a guided improvisation for prepared kinetic sculpture and live electronics. The kinetic sculpture is a collaboration between the Aurie Hsu and sound artist, Kyle Hartzell. The sculpture integrates design elements of a violin, erhu (Chinese “spike fiddle”), and a hurdy gurdy in using motorized gears to draw a bowing mechanism across the strings. The instrument also features two sets of sympathetic strings to augment the registral range and resonance of the instrument. The various ways of playing the instrument - plucking, using a metal slide across the strings, actuating the sympathetic strings, mechanical bowing, and physically altering the bow pressure - serve as a sound source for live electronics that further expand the instrument. The duration of the piece is four and a half minutes.