Artist/Composer Ellen Fullman has been working with her Long String Instrument since she developed it in 1981.  The Long String Instrument, an installation of dozens of wires 50 feet or more in length is tuned in Just Intonation and “bowed” with rosin-coated fingers, producing a chorus of minimal organ-like overtones. The instrument combines Fullman’s artistic expressions of everyday activities, such as walking, with a unique performance art sensibility. Fullman has developed a specialized notation system to choreograph the performer’s movements, exploring sonic events that occur at specific nodal point locations along the string-length of the instrument. She has recorded extensively with this unusual instrument and has collaborated with such other luminary figures as composer Pauline Oliveros, choreographer Deborah Hay, the Kronos Quartet and Keiji Haino.

This video features Ellen Fullman and the Long String Instrument in performance at MOCAD (The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) on March 9, 2013. With area musicians Abby Alwin (cello) and James Cornish (trumpet), and visiting musician Theresa Wong (cello).