De La Salle teen pianist takes over Arts Council Instagram page
Rajiv Das from De La Salle College, Waterford city.
A Waterford teen has taken over the Arts Council Instagram account to show young people how music is made.
The World Children’s Day project on November 20, 2024 by the Arts Council aimed to highlight the importance of arts in children’s lives.
Fourteen-year-old Rajiv Das is a third-year student at De La Salle College and a grade six pianist.
Rajiv has been playing the piano since he was five or six years old and is a member of the De La Salle and SETU choirs, as well as the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras.
“It’s just really nice. When I play, it just makes me happy, and the feeling of making a song perfect and being able to play it really well after practicing, it just feels really good,” said Rajiv.
Rajiv heard about the Arts Council project from his piano teacher.
“I thought it would be a really good project to do because it promotes music to the outer world, and the main reason I did it was to show people what music is like behind the scenes and the amount of practice it takes to make it perfect,” said Rajiv.
Rajiv filmed a day in the life video for the Arts Council Instagram. In the video, he includes a clip of the De La Salle choir and his piano rehearsal.
“I hope they [viewers] see what music is really like. A lot of people don’t know a lot about music nowadays from my age.
"I would like them to see what happens in rehearsal and the different things you do to get better,” said Rajiv.
Rajiv’s favourite song to play is The River Flows in You.
He said there are lots of benefits of music from having something to do to being able to travel and perform.
“It's really good to be involved in music because it’s a good hobby to have and when you are bored and want something to do it's nice to just play an instrument,” said Rajiv.
Arts Council Young People and Education (YPCE) Officer Eimer Harte said the social media takeover was important to showcase the value of the arts in children’s lives.
She said that arts are a central part of life in Ireland and children should be involved from a very young age.
“We tried to highlight the breadth and quality of the work across the country.
“The youth voice is really important. We want to pay attention to what young people want so we can shape the arts for them,” said Eimer.
