Opus 1 Music Studio is delighted to present Akshara, a new addition to our distinguished team of voice instructors. Music has always been an integral part of her life, profoundly influenced by her grandmother, a dedicated music teacher. "According to my mom, one of the first toys I crawled towards was a little toy keyboard. I started having formal voice lessons around eight years old. My parents saw that I had a hunger to learn so many different things in music, and they never stopped me from doing it," she explains.
Born in India, Akshara immersed herself in the study of Indian Carnatic music as a child before venturing into choirs upon her arrival in the United States. After years of participating in choir classes, Akshara decided she wanted to pursue a formal music education. She earned her B.M in Jazz Studies from San Jose State University. Trained in classical music, she specializes in diverse genres, including classical voice, musical theater, Jazz, Pop, and Indian Carnatic music. Her passion, however, has always been jazz. "I knew a lot about jazz history and jazz standards, but to be formally taught that and completely immersed in it was a very different experience.The heart of Jazz is improvisation, and that informed my teaching style, helping me become a better teacher," she explains.
Throughout and following her college years, Akshara embarked on various personal projects in the realms of performing, and composing. In addition to collaborating with jazz bands, she had the privilege of sharing the stage with legendary performers such as Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. These experiences not only broadened her horizons but also showcased her capabilities as a performer. "For these performances, I was given a huge repertoire to learn in a very short period of time, and all of the singers were to be mic'd up, so there was no room for error. It allowed me to prove to myself what I could do and gave me experience performing collaboratively in a large venue," she explains.
Akshara's journey also led her to embrace the joy of teaching, inspired by one of her professors who recognized her potential and encouraged her to explore the path of teaching through volunteering. She now boasts 12 years of experience in teaching, and performance preparation. Akshara was drawn to Opus 1 Music Studio’s philosophy of investing in a personalized approach to music lessons, and even remembers wishing she could take lessons there herself as a child. Now, as a teacher at Opus 1, Akshara firmly believes in individualized lesson plans, rejecting the notion of a one-size-fits-all approach. "I started putting in extra effort into making individual lesson plans for each of my students and making sure that I avoided reusing material. It is a lot of work, but I realized I genuinely loved doing that. I was able to see each student's growth and how they learned. It is important to make that investment in students. As a teacher, you have all the power to make, or break a student's interest in a subject," she explains.
Akshara's remarkable journey, commitment to excellence, and her ability to infuse the spirit of jazz into music theory make her a valuable asset to Opus 1 Music Studio, " I want my students to have a strong background in music theory, but I do not want them to feel like they have to always stick to a certain set of rules to be successful. Success isn't one size fits all outcome either. If you understand theory and all of the fundamentals really well, when you improvise and go on to build your own musicianship, you have so many resources and tools by that point to do that, whatever your style may be. I'm here to provide a framework for my students and say, ‘Here are all the things you need to do. Once you do all these, the rest of the world is your oyster,'" she passionately conveys.