In the town of Lampang in northern Thailand, there is an unusual group of musicians. They play many different k_____ of music—everything from traditional Thai songs to music by Beethoven. Both children and adults love this group. What makes them so p    ? Is it their music? Their looks? Yes, it's both of the things, but it’s a   something else: they're elephants.
These musical elephants started at the TECC（泰国大象保护中心）in Lampang. The TECC protects elephants. It teaches people to understand and love them. And, like many zoos a   the world, the TECC encourages elephants to paint.
Richard Lair w   for the TECC. He loves his job there and knows a lot about elephants. He says some of the animals' paintings are very good. But, in fact, elephants h    better than they see. And so he had an idea: if elephants are s   and they have good hearing, maybe they can play music. To test his idea, Lair and a friend started the Thai Elephant Orchestra. During a performance（表演）, the elephants play a number of i    , including the drums and the xylophone（木琴）.
But can elephants really make music properly? Yes, says Lair. They are very creative. Human e   the animals to play, but the elephants make their own songs; they don't just copy their trainers o   other people. There are now CDs of the group’s music which make money for the TECC. And the music these artists create is pretty amazing