Padma Shankar started her training in music at a tender age from her vainika mother, Mrs Lakshmi Narayanan (disciple of Late Ananthakrishna Bagavathar of Calcutta). Padma’s initial training in violin was from (late) Shri. Ramakrishna Sarma of Mumbai. Now, she has the good fortune of being under the tutelage of the great violin maestro, Padmabhushan. Shri. Lalgudi G. Jayaraman.
Padma has accompanied veterans like Dr M. Balamuralikrishna, Tanjavur Sankara Iyer, Smt Vedavalli, Kalpagam Swaminathan, N. Ramani Suguna Varadachary, Suguna Purushottaman, Aruna Sairam just to name a few. Also accompanied vocalists like Sanjay Subramaniam, Vijay Siva, Dr Ganesh, Sikkil Gurucharan, Ranjani Gayatri Venkataraghavan and upcoming musicians.
Padma Shankar has had the great opportunity of accompanying her guru Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman in his violin concert. She has also accompanied him in his lecture demonstrations.
Padma has had the unique opportunity of learning the compositions of the living legend Dr Balamuralikrishna directly from him.