Sitting in a small music room, in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, soprano Suzanne Murphy seems strangely knowledgeable about shorthand.

She examines my notebook and makes a few succinct comments about the Gregg method of note-taking. It turns out that this internationally renowned soprano, who has just joined the staff of the RIAM, was, for many years, a secretary.

Born in Limerick, Murphy says: "I believe I was able to sing before I could speak." Her sister, Noelle, however, was the real singer, she says, while she was the pianist. Her brother, Michael, who is the director of the concert hall in UL, also had a voice. "Noelle and I used to sing ourselves to sleep. I was always able to harmonise. I thought everybody could."

The two Murphy girls went to boarding school, in Bruff Convent FCJ, 15 miles from her home. "I loved it. There were lots of girls around, lots of companionship. It was very exciting, an adventure." Her sister Noelle was always in trouble. "She didn't care. I cried for her."

After the Leaving Cert, Suzanne wanted to continue her piano studies. "But, the attitude was: what kind of a job would you go into? Where would you get a job with a pension? I was 16 or 17 and wasn't thinking about pensions but a decision was made that I would forget music and do secretarial studies. At that point, I could sing, but nobody would have said, she'll be an opera singer, I just wanted to be involved in something musical, or theatrical."

She went to the High School of Commerce, in Limerick, and learned short-hand and typing for six months. Then she got a job in an insurance company, in Limerick, and joined the Cecilian Music Society, the Jesuit Choir and the Choral Union.

"After a time, I decided I wanted to explore music in Dublin so I asked for a transfer to the head office of the insurance company. I went to Dublin and applied to the R&R and other societies. But not one would let me inside their door. Maybe they didn't need any culchies," she says with a grin.

Eventually, she got an audition for Our Lady's Choral Society. "I joined them and went to their first rehearsal, but nobody spoke to me. I was terribly shy. I knew nobody. I thought: 'I'm not going back there'. The next time, I sang with them was in the soprano solo of the Messiah, years later."

Having no success with the musical society scene, Murphy became part of a folk group, called We4, which sang their own arrangements of songs from the likes of Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez and the Beatles.

"That was the late 1960s and early 1970s. We were doing lots of TV and radio and playing around the city in places like The Chariot Inn and the Embankment. I always dressed in evening dress and the three boys dressed in suits. We did very little Irish stuff as everyone else seemed to be singing it.

"When the group folded up, I rang Ronnie (Veronica Dunne) and asked her if she would take me on for singing lessons. I thought I'd like to know how to do this properly. She asked me to go to the College of Music, where lessons would be cheaper than going to her privately.

"I was still working as a secretary. I would get up at 6.30 a.m., go for a lesson at 8 a.m. before the college opened. At nine, I'd get in the car and go to work."

At that point, Murphy realised she wanted to learn more. Veronica Dunne persuaded her to go in for some feiseanna. "I kept saying I didn't want to as people would know me from We4 and I had no repertoire ... but, much to my amazement and delight, I won every competition I entered. That gave me the idea to go in for singing full time. My parents offered to support me if I gave up my job.

"My idea was to learn how to sing properly and, after two years, to take up a teaching position. Within the first year, I had the opportunity to sing opera with the Irish National Opera. It just took off from there. Nothing was planned. It all fell into place."

After two-and-half years' study, Murphy was offered a seven-year contract with the Welsh National Opera.

Twenty three years later, she still lives in Wales. She has worked on a freelance basis since 1983, pursuing a successful international career.

The most exciting place to sing was the Vienna State Opera, she says.

"I never thought I'd be there. I had a little giggle inside me the whole time on stage. I just couldn't believe it was me on that stage."

WHEN, a year and a half ago, the director of the RIAM John O'Conor asked her to come and teach, she told him she didn't want to give up performing yet. He suggested she could both perform and teach.

Just weeks into the new job (commuting from Wales to Dublin two days a week), she says: "I'm just getting to know the students. It's almost like a refresher course. You have to analyse what you're doing, in order to explain it. It's fascinating to see the students questioning something you take for granted."

Her performing career is continuing apace and she has just finished filming for the BBC where she sings in Janecek's opera Jenufa. Murphy holds an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Glamorgan and an honorary doctorate of letters from UL as well as honorary fellowships from the Welsh College of Music and Drama and Cardiff University.

"For someone who didn't go to university, I'm doing very well," she smiles. "But I have worked very very hard. Ronnie was a fantastic inspiration. I've never really met another teacher who works like she does. As a teacher, I would hope to be able to be like her."