Ramakant Pathak was my pakhavaj teacher in the 1980s in Lucknow. He was Reader in Pakhavaj and at one time he was head of the Tabla-Pakhavaj department at the Bhatkhande Music College. He also played the largest pakhavaj I have ever seen although it was not a heavy instrument: it had a magnificent tone, and it was remarkable to see the strength of this tall, thin man as he brought his drum to life. Ramakantji learnt for close to 20 years with Pandit Sakharam (who also taught at the Bhatkhande College in Lucknow), and he learnt roughly 3000 parans of the Nana Panse tradition. After Sakharam's death he began learning in 1973 with Ayodhya Prasad of the Kudau Singh tradition, and absorbed about 2000 choice compositions from him. Thus, Ramakant is a great source of knowledge about the pakhavaj and its repertoire. In this example set in tevra tal (seven counts), which I recorded in 1986, Ramakant is in the middle of a string of chakradars that begin successively from different points in the cycle: here, we hear him begin the first from count two, the second from count three, and the third from count four.