Music makers

Music makers

By Mariana Salas

1. The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra is a group of musicians who play vegetables an hour before the performance to make their instruments. These include wind instruments made from carrots and percussion instruments made from aubergines. The sounds are amplified with microphones. The Orchestra plays different musical styles from experimental electronic music to jazz. Their music is constantly developing and when they go on tour, they experiment with local vegetables. The vegetables are both musical and useful, because at the end of their performance, they make a vegetable soup and serve it to the audience.

1. Glenn Donnellan is a classical musician who plays violin in the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. As a part of his job, he works with children. Sometimes young people think classical music is neither cool nor interesting so he wanted to involve them more. His answer was a batolin: a violin made with a baseball bat. He made it from a normal baseball bat using tools that he found in the theatre where he worked. He says kids can make their own instruments. It is not only educational but also fun.

1. An award-wining composer, Bill MIlbrodt, started the Car Music Project when his old car died. Instead of scrapping the car, he recycled it into musical instruments. He employed mechanics to take the car apart and a metal sculptor to make the instruments. He wanted to have traditional orchestral groups: wind string, brass and percussion. He also wanted the instruments to look like car parts but be like real ones so professional musicians can play them easily. The instruments include drums made from the wheels and a bass made from the petrol tank. Sometimes the musicians play music by composers but often they create their own sound, so the music Car Project show can be either traditional or modern.

Multiple Choice

All the instruments in the article...

• can be eaten

• sound terrible

• are recycled

Multiple Choice

The musicians in the Vegetable Orchestra

• like playing new vegetables

• always make the same instruments

• play songs about food

Multiple Choice

At the end of a Vegetable Orchestra concert, the instruments are:

• thrown away

• eaten

• sold

Multiple Choice

Glen Donellan made his batolin because..

• he doesn't like violins.

• he is a baseball fan.

• he works with young people,

Multiple Choice

Bill Milbrodt made his car into______ instruments.

• rock

• orchestral

• percussion

Multiple Choice

The Car Music Project musicians..

• make their own instruments.

• play different styles of music.

• are interested in cars.