"For [Molly] Herron's composition Assembly," reports Nature Materials, "commissioned by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth in New Hampshire, USA, and premiered in May, she explored how materials both old and new could be used in entirely novel types of instrument to create a non-traditional sonic landscape.

"Since 2016, Herron has worked with students at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth to design instruments from scratch, in collaboration with materials scientist Ulrike Wegst and engineer and educational specialist Vicki May. Assembly was, Herron says, much indebted to Wegst's research on the acoustic and mechanical properties of woods used for musical instruments."