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Vocal and piano teacher of Carroll Music Studio, Sarah Carroll.

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Sarah Carroll and vocal student Ellen Guilford as they do vocal warm ups.

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Sarah Carroll as she helps her student Johnathan Overcash with the song “ Joy To The World”.

Sitting in the bedroom with the radio turned up, singing along with our favorite music artists is something we’ve all done. We sing proudly in a loud voice just like them – or so we’d like to think.

Sarah O. Carroll is a first soprano singer. She gives much of the credit for her career to Sandy Patty. Patty, a contemporary Christian singer, is who she’d often find herself imitating in her bedroom.

Carroll grew up singing with her father Joseph Opatsky and mother Ginger Opatsky in church. Her father also taught her how to play the piano.

As she got older, singing in her bedroom and in front of the church congregation became uncomfortable. She decided at age 14 to take voice lessons to enhance her talent and to gain confidence as a vocalist.

“I knew if I took voice lessons that if I sounded bad my teacher would tell me that I sounded bad,” Carroll said.

Mrs. Lindsey Lewis of Summerville taught her vocal lessons and gave her reassurance of her vocal talent. While attending Northside Christian High School, Carroll participated in talent competitions and was involved in Northside Christian’s choir, band, basketball team and the National Honor Society. Carroll took the advice of family and friends  to study something in college she would enjoy and not to go to college just to receive a degree in something she didn’t enjoy.

Carroll listened to the advice and pursued a degree in Vocal Performance at Charleston Southern University.

Carroll took off a semester from college and one summer to travel across the U.S. with Missions Live for eight months spreading the gospel through song and interpretive dance.  Carroll says the time she spent with Missions Live, made possible through the North American Missions Board, was a great experience.

 “I got to travel across the United States and see how people live and to meet people from different states,” Carroll said.  

Her experience traveling with the group also taught her how to live with roommates.

Carroll also sang with New Vision, an outreach ensemble at Charleston Southern. New Vision performs at area churches. With her experience of singing with a group, Carroll never had the desire to pursue a solo career but she did have a desire to open her own music studio.

Sarah Carroll along with her husband Timothy Carroll opened Carroll’s Music Studio in their home in 2009.

Carroll always knew she wanted to be a mom and believed that having a music studio would be a perfect way for her to have the ability to work from home and also have time for her family.

“I always said once I got married and had a child I wanted to have my own music studio,” Carroll said.

Carroll’s Music Studio opened with eight students enrolled for either piano or voice lessons. Enrollment has grown over the past two years. Recently Carroll finished her spring semester with 22 students.

“I really want to have an affect on my students lives,” Carroll said. Carroll wants her students to have a positive experience and be able to look back on their accomplishments and be able to set future goals and accomplish those as well.

The mission of Carroll’s Music Studio is to enhance students’ talent as well as their grace and poise. The goal is that with each lesson, students will become more confident in themselves and more comfortable performing and speaking in front of others.

Carroll teaches her students breathing techniques, proper posture, the fundamentals of music and voice, how to maneuver hands across the piano along with a host of other techniques to become a polished vocalist or pianist. Carroll has prepared several of her students for Rollings Middle School auditions along with helping Karina Morazzi win the Miss Summerville pageant in 2008 and the Miss South Carolina pageant in 2009.

When Carroll is not teaching voice or piano lessons she spends time with her family, sings at Old Fort Baptist Church or plays the piano.

Carroll is a member of The Greater Summerville Music Forum and The Chamber of Commerce.

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