The hardest part about teaching by yourself is holding the jiuchi. If you play it, students will try to copy you; if you don’t play it, then the group as a whole will have trouble staying on the same pulse.
Below is my method for introducing a jiuchi to 4th and 5th graders (here’s the post about doing this with younger students). The alphabet/ostinato activity is from my original Orff training, and I developed the taiko extension.
This activity takes 20-30 minutes, longer if you have to do Step 9. The three parts are written out here for reference.
Teach the alphabet body percussion exercise described here.
Point out that you have two elements going: a melody and an ostinato.
NOTE: “melody” isn’t exactly the right word, since clapping isn’t pitched, but it’s close, and it’s a word they’re likely to recognize, so I go with it.Have students do the alphabet body percussion with the ostinato again.
There is a 99.9999% chance that they will speed up. Point out that they did. (If they didn’t, congratulate them on that, and say that groups usually do.)
Define tempo. Discuss how faster isn’t always better, and that what you’re usually going for in music is a steady tempo and a shared pulse.
Explain that in taiko, we use a jiuchi to help keep a steady tempo and shared pulse and that this rhythm pattern usually happens on a shime.
Demonstrate the pulse for the body percussion exercise they just did.
Have them do the exercise again using body percussion while you play a jiuchi on a shime.
If students haven’t yet played drums in your class yet, spend some time describing how to play the drum safely, respectfully, and musically.
Have students transfer the body percussion to the drums as outlined in the pdf.
In my experience most 4th and 5th graders do well with this method. A few get confused, but they usually figure it out by watching their classmates. Notice, there’s more talking/explaining with students this age than with younger kids.
Let me know if you try this method and how it works for you. Happy teaching!