Passage I

From Salad to Symphony

[1]

Though they can often be seen lugging bags stuffed with fresh vegetables home from Beijing markets, brothers Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping are not chefs——they are musicians. [A] Their instruments of choice is considered rather unusual: a pan pipe fashioned from carrots, an ocarina created from a sweet potato, other brightly colored vegetables. Gourds, daikon radishes, and other vegetables, are used to round out the “orchestra.”

[2]

From an early age, the Nan brothers, raised on a vegetable farm in China’s Anhui province, who were taught to play conventional musical instruments by their father, a music teacher. [B] The siblings’ love of music and passion for performance led them to begin experimenting with vegetable musical instruments a few years ago.

[3]

Working by hand while constructing their edible instruments, the brothers manually bore holes into the vegetables by using long metal drill bits, snacking on discarded pieces as they work. [C] Weiping says that to create a low pitch, which makes a deep hole. Nonetheless, a high pitch requires a shallow hole. Other factors, like, the diameter of the hole and changes in air temperature and humidity, also effects the sound quality.

[4]

[1] A newly picked vegetable that sits at the market for even one day may lose much of its water content, producing a pitch that is out of tune. [2] Because of this, the brothers must carve a fresh set of instruments before each performance. [3] Still, the most critical ingredient in creating high-quality sound, Weidong says, is the vegetables’ high water content. (12)

[5]

While the brothers’ musical repertoire is as varied as their instruments, ranging from traditional Chinese flute music to modern pop songs. [D] They maintain that different vegetables have different scales and are therefore suited to different types of music. Since 2011, the Nan brothers have performed regularly, playing a wide variety of music on their edible instruments and bringing a whole new meaning to the idea of playing with your food. (14)