Melody, laya and vidvat were the watchwords of M L Vasanthakumari"s rare musical artistry that was an aural feast to both the lay and the cognoscenti. She could very easily render an elaborate ragam-tanam-pallavi in uncommon talam with an unusual eduppu, sing kritis set in two kalai talam or regale her audience with popular and semiclassical songs. MLV used to give vocal support to her mother as a young teenager and so had the initial training from her mother and later from G.N.Balasubramaniam.