Rizzi Rhythm School

Brian Rizzi's studies in Ghanaian drumming over the past 20 years has resulted in his main body of work, The Ghana Notebooks, which is a series of notebooks, each dedicated to a particular rhythm or style from Ghana and now elsewhere.

Unlike other world drumming texts, the master drum rhythms are presented here in actual drum language, which is the most traditional method, using only syllables to represent drum sounds instead of music notation. Each notebook contains all the information that Brian has compiled from various sources for that style, including its history and origins, meaning, forms/versions, master drum parts, support parts, songs, variations, dance and costuming. In addition to the rhythm notebooks, the Rizzi Rhythm Songbook contains over 200 traditional songs from Ghana, Guinea, Brazil, Cuba, and Peru. Each notebook includes audio recordings in which Brian has recorded and/or compiled all musical examples discussed to provide proper interpretation of the rhythms and songs, and with some notebooks a video of the dance is also provided.

These notebooks represent years of deep cultural information shared with Brian by his teachers. They are not for sale but are available as a resource to Rizzi's students. 

Adzogbo

Adzro

Agbadza

Akpese/Borborbor

Atsia

Atsiagbekor

Fume Fume

Gahu

Kinka

Kpanlogo

Gota, ToKwe & Kpatsa

Cuba/ Brazil

Rizzi Rhythm Songbook