Sentence:  Lisa Jones – a woman in her thirties – sits cross-legged onstage, absent-mindedly tuning the high E-string on an acoustic guitar. She tunes the string up and up until it reaches the correct note – and then continues on past it. [...] Higher and higher the note, the string growing ever more <WSD>taut</WSD>, the fretboard beginning to tremble under the strain, the tension rising – but she still winds the tuning peg, up and up and up and up until … … the string snaps! 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Under tension, like a stretched bowstring, rope, or sail; tight.