 Her family moved to Connecticut and Demby went on to found a jazz ensemble in high school, where she developed her skills as a improviser, and later became a multi-instrumentalist, taking up voice, hammered dulcimer, koto, ch'eng, harpeleck, tamboura, and later the synthesizer and her own handmade instruments.Demby studied sculpture and painting at the University of Michigan, but interrupted this formal education In 1960 when she moved to New York City's Greenwich Village.She continued to work as a musician and sculptor, combining these disciplines with her first sheet metal sound sculptures built in 1966.