Like Panna Lal Ghosh, the forms of Sachdev's music are based on the vocal traditions of North India, while the content of it was shaped by the Maihar tradition. Sachdev's early teacher was Vijay Raghav Rao, the disciple of Ravi Shankar, and after some years of study with him, Sachdev went on to study with Ravi Shankar himself. Sachdev's concept of what a correct rag consists of was shaped by Ravi Shankar, and it might be said that a great many other musicians have the same respect for Ravi Shankar's knowledge. In fact, Hari Prasad himself once said to me, "I believe as you do, however Ravi Shankar plays a rag, that's the correct way to do it." Of all the flutists playing today, Sachdev had the best musical education, the others being mostly self-taught, even if they had gurus. Just having a guru doesn't necessarily mean you get many lessons, and the traditional guru-disciple relationship which Sachdev enjoyed has mostly broken down. Sachdev generally plays bada kheyal and chota kheyal, vocal style pieces in the rhythm cycles vilambit ecktal and drut tintal. The style of development he usually uses is barhat alap, though he often plays alap-jor-jhala as well. He also does many pieces in slow rupak tal, sometimes using the barhat alap style. His music closely resembles the performances of the noted vocalist Lakshmi Shankar, Ravi Shankar's sister-in-law and student, who also presents the rags of the Maihar gharana in the forms of vocal traditions. One of the most important infl