A disciple of the stalwart Mysore K. Vasudevachar, Dr. Padma Murthy made her concert debut when she was just eight. She later continued her lessons from T. Puttaswamiah, Thitte Krishna Iyengar, M.S. Selvapillai Iyengar, D.K. Jayaraman and R.K. Srikantan. She also trained in Hindustani music under Nagamma and on the veena under R.S. Keshavamurthy.
Between 1973 and 1978, Padma did in-depth research on the Psychology of Music and Music Therapy at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, in which she was guided on the musical aspects by Rallapalli Ananthakrishna Sarma and Mysore V. Doreswamy Iyengar. She served as the Professor and Chairperson, Department of Performing Arts, Bangalore University. Later, she served as Dean and Visiting Professor at the Sri Padmavathi Mahila University, Tirupati. Her work on music therapy has brought her international repute.
