With January designated as Winter Term for Oberlin students, TIMARA majors can be found around the world, taking on new projects and honing their musical skills in various ways.
For two weeks at the end of Winter Term 2026, TIMARA fourth-year Fae Ordaz ‘26 and alum Penina Biddle-Gottesman ‘25 took their instrument, String Thing #2, on a five-show tour around California. Ordaz and Biddle-Gottesman have performed together with String Thing for close to three years after building the initial iteration of the instrument, String Thing #1, for TIMARA alum Ivy Fu’s senior recital in 2023.
On their website, Biddle-Gottesman and Ordaz share a description of the instrument:
The first String Thing was born from a bucket of discarded piano bass strings. Fastened with nails to two blocks of scrap wood, 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. 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. String Thing #2 exists in the space between the two bodies that wear it. They are its backbone. Without them, it makes no sound.
After releasing an album recorded with String Thing #2 in June 2025, Biddle-Gottesman graduated from Oberlin, and the performance of the project was set aside, but plans for a tour with the instrument were beginning to emerge. During the fall, Biddle-Gottesman and Ordaz began reaching out to venues and turning their plans into reality.
As the tour booking process began, Ordaz received guidance from Francis Wilson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Music and Digital Art, and Dana Jessen, Associate Professor of Contemporary Music and Improvisation and Director of Conservatory Professional Development. In their communication, Jessen emphasized the importance of making and maintaining connections with other artists.
“My conversation with Dana was really important because she was like, ‘Just reach out to everybody that you know to come to a show, meet up, and just keep the connections going.’”
Though Biddle-Gottesman has graduated, she noted that the impact of her time at Oberlin continues to influence String Thing.
“I feel like the support and the words of encouragement we got from faculty and students when we were working on this project gave us the confidence to keep going over the years. Additionally, the coaching we’ve gotten from Tom, Francis, and Steven, specifically on String Thing, always comes into play when we perform.”
Ordaz shared Biddle-Gottesman’s sentiment about the value of the TIMARA faculty throughout the evolution of the String Thing project.
“Every single teacher gave us such different advice and thoughts, which have all contributed so much to the project. I’m also really grateful that the professors here are really confident in their own work and their own ideas to be able to give that to us as well.”
Beyond faculty and peer support, Biddle-Gottesman also expressed the value of gaining experience organizing and performing in various forms during her time at Oberlin.
“Having the experience of organizing my senior recital, which was a pretty large-scale production, was useful while booking this tour. A lot of the skills I used on this tour also came from being involved in other things at Oberlin, like being a ‘Sco [The Dionysus Disco] booker and being in MMG [Modern Music Guild], and those things all tie into TIMARA too.”
On the tour, Ordaz and Biddle-Gottesman shook the dust off their collaboration and experimented with combining their previous work with String Thing and the ideas that had been percolating during their time apart.
“We were combining our old techniques with new techniques, which was really, really fun and interesting,” Ordaz said.
While the two found musical growth as they reconnected with each other and the instrument, they also made new connections and received positive feedback and excitement about the future of String Thing.
“We met people who were so generous with their energy and time and really believed in us,” Biddle-Gottesman. “It snowballed a little on this tour in terms of people taking it seriously and wanting to work with us again.”
As Ordaz finishes her last semester at Oberlin and Biddle-Gottesman remains in the Bay Area, performances of String Thing are once again on pause, but the project is far from over.
“I want to play more shows, and it would be great to spend a month or so together to make String Thing #3 and then record with it,” Ordaz said. “New techniques are still coming out of this project and will probably always be.”
During the tour, the duo also stopped by KALX 90.7, the UC Berkeley student and community radio station, where they were interviewed about String Thing, the tour, and their experience as TIMARA students, while sharing recordings from their album and recent performances. You can hear that interview, as well as connect with Ordaz and Biddle-Gottesman through their website at the links below:
String Thing KALX 90.7 Interview: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O2YJxnaMx1lB-J44_syQDQ3hQBzDMbY6/view
String Thing Website: https://stringthing.neocities.org/
