Vegetables have a few qualities that make them ideal for instruments. They’re cheap, readily available, many (especially root vegetables like carrots and turnips) can be easily carved and whittled, and the vision of someone blowing into a carved stick of celery with his nostrils will never not be fun. They do, of course, not last nearly as long as, say, the hardwood from which a clarinet is usually fashioned, which means vegetable musicians have to continually create new instruments. But nothing’s perfect, right?
There’s an entire group based out of Vienna, calling itself the Vegetable Orchestra, that’s been together for more than 15 years. They construct instruments out of leeks, cabbages, turnips, carrots, and even onion skins, and perform all over the world. Check them out:
The Vegetable Orchestra performs with instruments made from fresh vegetables, which must be built anew for each concert and each rehearsal. The use of various vegetable instruments which are constantly being refined creates a musically and aesthetically unique universe of sound, which cannot be achieved with traditional instruments.
A concert of The Vegetable Orchestra appeals to all the senses. Vegetable-visuals and live video projections provide fascinating images and after a short time a wonderful smell of vegetables is in the air. As an encore, at the end of the concert and video performance, the audience is offered fresh vegetable soup.
Linsey Pollack has a slightly different method, using prefabricated parts designed for more traditional instruments and attaching them to quickly carved bodies made from vegetables. Here he is playing a carved carrot with a clarinet mouthpiece attached.
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Source: modernfarmer.com/agnetwest.com