Meet Sangeetha Ramanuj, the 15-year-old who uses plastic bottles to make musical instruments

The student wants to promote the message of recycling through her music.

BCCL
How about using a plastic bottle filled with pebbles as a rhythm instrument? Sangeetha Ramanuj, 15, a 10th grader at Vidyaniketan School and a music student of Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts (SAPA), Bengaluru has made it her mission reach out with social messages, through her music.

As part of her initiative to raise awareness on recycling, she has collected plastic bottles to create a simple music instrument for underprivileged kids in Government schools in the city.

“I collected around 70 bottles, painted them and filled them with small pebbles. These make a rhythmic sound, when shaken together, to a beat,” she says, adding that she wanted to make music accessible to everyone.


A violinist, pianist, singer and songwriter, Ramanuj has trained since six years old and has always wanted her music to create an impact.
Sangeetha Ramanuj: Musical instruments made out of painted bottles.

“Six months back, during a song writing session we were given the theme of Solar System. I decided to make a song that would help younger children learn easily about different planets, through the medium of music,” she says.

The 3-minute song lists the planets and one special thing about them, to make it easier for young children to remember the Solar System.
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Ramanuj, has also created a song titled ‘Fly By’ that highlights the poverty situation in India, as part of the 10,000 Sustainable Deeds Goals programme being run by SAPA, her music school, in association with UNICEF.
Sangeetha Ramanuj: Musical instruments being made out of plastic bottles.

“As an entitled section of the society, we often forget that poverty is still very much present in different parts of the society. The song highlights the daily challenges of a poor man, to run his family,” she says.

Singer, songwriter, Bindu Subramaniam who trained Ramanuj at SAPA says that it has been the school’s endeavor to imbibe values on sustainability through positive action and by drawing from real-life experiences.

“For our deeds campaign, we are encouraging children associated with our school, to take one sustainable or positive deed. Our aim is to get 10, 000 such pledges for the initiative,” she adds.
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