- HubPages»
- Entertainment and Media»
- Performing Arts
Beautiful Symphony from Vegetables Musical Instrument
I love music very much and the world so empty without music. This time I’ll talk about music in unique side. Even now, I am writing this hub while listen music. The world filled by many talented people. By these people we can enjoy something new for life. We need creativity to make some innovation. From this hub I’ll show to all of you about innovation in musical instrument. We usually find the musical instrument created by iron, wood, strings, plastic, copper wire, brass, and so on.
Musical instrument is an instrument that created for the purpose of producing music. Basically, anything that produces sound, in a certain way can be arranged by the musicians, it can be called a musical instrument. I’ll review for a while about musical instrument based on sound sources:
- Musical instrument based on the source from the membrane, like: drum, tambourine
- Musical instrument based on the source in the cavity airflow, like: flute, trumpet, harmonica
- Musical instrument based on the source from the string, like: bass, guitar, violin
- Musical instrument based on the source generated from the electricity, like: keyboards, electric guitar, electric bass, electric piano.

I have a question for you, have you ever heard musical instruments created by vegetables? It’s the main topic of this hub. We can find the musical instrument from vegetables in China. The idea of playing music with vegetables came to two Chinese brothers. They are: Nan Weidong, 43 years old, and Nan Weiping, 41 years old. They totally hard worked in making of musical instrument which is producing beautiful sound. They grew up surrounded by vegetables farm and live in a narrow apartment in Beijing. They started learning conventional instruments when they were children from their father, a music teacher. I heard that when they teenagers, they joined a local theatrical troupe. But the idea to play music instrument from vegetables started since two years ago. Their ability in playing musical instrument from vegetables looks better. Now, it became a passion and a career for these two brothers.
Vegetables transformed into musical instrument




From Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping hands, vegetables that we usually consume everyday are transformed into musical instrument. They play classical music to pop songs from instrument made entirely from vegetables. We can hear beautiful repertoire by two brothers ranging from traditional Chinese music to Western folk songs, such as “Auld Lang Syne”. Each vegetable produces different melodies, because they have different characteristic. Type of hole gave different pitch. Like Nan Weiping as young brother said from the video below: “The deeper the hole produces the lower pitch and the shallower the hole produces the high pitch”. The quality of the sound is depended on the size of the hole. So, they guarantee for the beautiful melodies.

Nan Weidong, as a big brother said that the vegetables must be solid and hard. The melody will become higher than the basic melody or we called this “go out of tune”, this happened if the water content in vegetables evaporates. So, they can’t use vegetables which left over for days. The reason is they are too soft to be played. Actually, there are several factors which make controlling the pitch is still extremely difficult. Such as: put the shape of the holes, humidity, and changes in the air temperature.


From the video below we can see that these two brothers bought a bag of vegetables from at local market like to make delicious soup. Actually,all the vegetables used for a very different purpose. The brothers could make music with potatoes, lettuce, marrows, lotus roots, pumpkin, Chinese yams, carrots and bamboo. By drilling holes in marrows, carrots, lotus root, they could make beautiful musical instrument. To adjust the tone, they use an old electronic tuner. The result is a bamboo shoot becomes a flute or mellow, a sweet potato becomes an ocarina, and Chinese yams become a whistle. Bunch of carrots tied up and drilled become a wonderful musical instrument (a set of Chinese panpipes). What is the function of the leeks? The leeks have function as decoration. So, everything depended on the size of the holes to guarantee the quality of the sound.
I got special video to shown that Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping have appeared on China's Got Talent. Although they lost in the competition but all the audience was amazed and gave thunderous applause to the two brothers. Trusted information said that they can receive payments about £3,000 to £5,000 (30,000 to 50,000 yuan) for one performance. I thought all hard work had paid for. The Nan brothers promise, they will go on creating vegetable instruments and play these instruments in wider range of music.
You can also read:
Comments
I don't know how you come up with such wonderful, interesting subjects. This is awesome. I can't beleive the sounds they can get with a common garden vegetable. Awesome, interesting, and as always up, up, up.
What interesting information! Voted up, awesome and shared! :)
Wow...who would have thought this would be possible? And, you included a video so we can actually hear the sound. It is amazing--I am awe struck.Thanks for sharing this. Voted up and shared. Sending many Angels to you this morning :) ps
prasetio, it is amazing you find the most awesome and unique people to write about. It is always a delight to read you hubs. Thanks for sharing these gems.
Voted up and awesome.
thank you so much for this hub...i really like vegetables...to eat! lol...i never thought about doing anything this creative with them...i didn't even know that you could! thanks again for this hub...blessings!
I would love to have a go at that. What a tasty instrument. Does it come with a serving of gravy to blow bubbles in? prassetio30 you do some interesting hubs i must say. They bring a smile to our day.
Voting up
Incredible! Shared & voted up.
That was interesting and new information to me. Thank you for sharing this!
Voting and sharing!
There is really only one word I can use to describe their music: Amazing! I watched the video. I noticed they use a drill by hand to make the holes. Seems like such a shame that after all their hard work in making the instruments, the vegetable will not last.
This is the first time I've ever heard of instruments made from veggies!
Voted UP, etc.etc.
Amazing talent.
This is amazing. I have never seen people play vegetable musical instruments
What a great hub this is! These guys are very creative. I love it when people figure out ways to make musical instruments from nontraditional objects or turn things that are used for other things into instruments.
Voted up, interesting, beautiful, and awesome! Will share with my followers!
Wow, Pras! You really have a knack on awesome articles such as this.
I've been to China, just of late, as part of a conduction team on board commercial ship. And the only channel I had seen was the CCTV where it features highlights of China's Got Talent. And I missed this.
I'm glad you dig this in time (lol)
Congrats for a well-deserved success!!!
Wow... that's awesome. I just can't imagine how this Nan brother create a beautiful music from vegetables.
What a unique and interesting hub! I've never heard of playing vegetables, but it sounds pretty good on the video. I can see why they need fresh vegetables to get the sound right. Thanks for sharing!
What a unique take on creating musical instruments. Not to mention, very talented and quite technical.
They take playing with your food to a whole new level. Very inventive and creative. I always enjoy your unique stories.
What a delightful hub...and an amazing positive telling of those two smart brothers. I couldn't wait to hear them play...videos were fantastic! Would love to see them in person. Thank you for sharing such a unique hub!
This is so interesting! I would not have thought about carrots--gourds yes--very cool write!
This is crazy! I'd never heard of vegetables as musical instruments. Thanks for sharing! Voted up and interesting.
As you said in your introduction, the world is empty without music. People find innovative ways to make music, but I never imagined that using vegetables as musical instruments would be one of them! This is a wonderful and unique hub about the creative brothers who play vegetable instruments! Voted up, awesome, interesting...
This is an unusual topic! An amazing hub indeed! Your explaination of vegetables used as musical instruments is detailed.
Thanks for SHARING. Voted up. Interesting.
Truly amazing! You always find the most spectacular subjects to write about, my friend. This is the first time I heard you could use vegetables as music. I always learn so much from you. Voted up, interesting and shared.
Prasetio, Wonderful, Interesting & Creative hub! These brothers are quite gifted and talented how innovative! I always enjoy learning something new! Great video showcasing their “Vegetable Musical Instruments!” Thank you for sharing, Peace & Blessings!
prasetio30, no one can ever say that you produce a boring hub. This was great, funny, and memorable.
Wow this is simply amazing, they are so talented. The must put a lot of work into getting the tones and naotes just right only to have to do it all over again when the veg gets old.
Thank you for bringing this to us, you did a great job
absolutely fascinating! I can't believe the sounds! Voted up!
Very interesting! The human mind is so inventive. I don't think I'd have ever thought of using vegetables to make music!
Amazing hub, prasetio30.
i heard about this in the news and reading your hub made me wonder about our bountiful vegetables which we just refer to eat.
very interesting hub. voted up!
Very amazing hub Prasetio. I never thought you could use vegetables for music. Brilliant.
A musical Instrument made up of vegetables? what a great idea.
Very interesting hub Prasetio! This is amazing. I would never of thought that vegetable could be turned into instruments to create music. Wow. Loved your hub!
Who would have thought. These brothers are very talented. Thank you for sharing this wonderful hub.
Wow, how interesting. The brothers are very creative, making music out of these vegetables. I'm glad their ingenuity paid off. Thanks, again, for showing us how amazing people can be...erhh...with a little help from the vegetables. Rated up and up
It's amazing how creative the human mind can be!
You always come up with the most interesting Hubs.
Amazing topic to highlight here! hese brothers' work is stunning. Thanks for sharing the news about them! Their music is beautiful.
That is amazing, prasetio! They are so creative and talented. Thanks for sharing this with us. Voted up, interesting, beautiful, awesome! Take care!
Praasetio, I am absolutely amazed by some of the things you write about. Where in the world do you get your ideas? I love it. You always come up with something new and unusual. Who would have thought it - making music with vegetables? Up and definately awesome.
PRASETIO!! I'm here my friend! I decided to pick this hub to comment about because you know how much I love music!!! I'm actually working on my new album now.....will post new songs on Facebook soon! Anyway, this is really interesting. I have never seen this before. This would be a good way to talk to kids about "healthy food choices" and music. You always pick great and interesting subjects to write about. Wishing you lots of good thoughts my friend!!!! Best, G
You always wow so many people pras that it should be in your name. I too love music and have since I was a small child and it has always been a part of my entertainment. This is fantastic. I will go up and listen some more right after pushing all your buttons!
You are incredible - you find such spectacular information and create such an amazing hub. Up and pressing your buttons as always!!
This is just so creative - I'm so glad the world is filled with so many creative people. It just makes me feel good. Thanks so much for bringing this amazing information to us. You've done it again. Yay! Rated up and more!
Amazing! I haven't heard or seen such things. Wow! they must be fashioning fresh instruments every day.. what talent ... truly amazing hub! Thanks for sharing this. Have a lovely day. God bless!
Talk about ingenuity and talent! I've heard that beans were the musical fruit, but I was wrong! I bet they make a magical, musical stew when their instruments get a bit old :) Cheers!
Have seen many unconventional musical instruments. One that stands out is jal tarang from India that uses ceramic bowls filled with water to create musical notes. But, this is something unique. Music from vegetables. Too good. Loved the videos. Voted up and interesting.
Hi, pras, you always manage to find the most interesting and different things! I loved the videos, especially the Talent one, the music really is good! we have an old song over here in England that has the words:
Boiled beef and carrots,! maybe they should learn to play that one! haha! voted up! have a great day, nell
Hi Prasetio
A brilliant and entertaining hub.
Voted up and away!
Take care :)
I am waiting for that "vegetable-based" set of bagpipes, Prasetio...that would be amazing! Thanks for sharing! WB
Hmmmm...imagine how boring the world would be without humans' creativity. This is so awesome, unique and eco-friendly! Think about it; he could actually turn all his musical instruments into a vegetable soup after his concert. Nothing is wasted. lol
136