Fingerboard For Your Feet - Horsehair Music

It’s a floor fingerboard for feet! Have you seen those giant floor keyboards? A music program I taught at in Denver incorporated it into their curriculum as we were learning to identify keyboard notes. The kids loved it!

The Piano Studio

I’m teaching a bunch of 4 year old beginners this year and they are on the brink of starting to learn their fingerboard. Group lessons for 4 year olds must include some gross motor skill activities to get the wiggles out! Well, all this got me to thinking, what if I made a floor fingerboard for your feet! I guess you could call it a footboard or a floorboard. Ok, well, maybe not.

But this giant floor fingerboard for your feet was sure a hit with my beginners last week. Sometimes when we see things that are oversized it helps us understand and grasp them better. The activities that you can do with this oversized fingerboard for your feet are endless. Here are a few ideas:

Identify string names – I played an open string and had the kids show me with their feet the string I played. (Sneaking in a little ear-training here)
Stepping up and stepping down (Especially going from open E to D (3rd finger)
Skipping (Especially C# skip up to E or D skip up to F#)
Half Steps and Whole Steps
Learning C versus C#

And I’m sure you can think of some other ideas. Here is how to make your own.

Supplies

Black Vinyl Fabric – 2 yards or clear vinyl – 2 yards (see note)
Silver Duct Tape – 30 ft roll
Colored Duct Tape – 1 roll

Fabric Note: The black vinyl fabric comes with a flannel backing. (Think your grandma’s table cloth material…). This works great on carpet, but on a hard floor it can be very slippery. If you plan to use it on a hard floor be sure to get a rug pad.
Be sure and check for coupons and specials – The Joann Fabric app typically has a coupon for 40, 50 or 60% off a regular cut of fabric.

Instructions for Floor Fingerboard for Your Feet

1.Trim the Edge

Trim the white edge off the two sides.

2. Cut in Half

Cut the vinyl in half length-wise. The vinyl is 54″ wide. After you cut it down the middle you should have two pieces that are each 27″ wide and 72″ long.

3. Hem the Edge (Optional)

Turn the edge under 1/2 inch and stitch it down. This isn’t necessary, but should help the edges not get torn up as easily.

4. The Outside Strings

Start with making the 4 strings going down the fingerboard. Beginning on the long edge of the vinyl measure 3 inches in from the edge. Leaving an inch or two to fold under. Carefully attach the silver duct tape in a straight line 3″ from the edge down the length of the vinyl.

Repeat this step on the opposite long edge.

5. Inside Strings

Add two more stripes of duct tape down the center.

6. Finger Tapes

Now to create the “finger tapes.” Using a different color tape measure up 15 inches from the short edge and place the tape perpendicular to the silver tape.

Place another piece of yellow tape 15 inches from the last piece of yellow tape. This will be the “second finger” tape.

Cut and lay down another piece of yellow 7 1/2 inches up from the second piece of tape. This will be the “third finger” tape.

Optional: For the “fourth finger” tape measure up 15 inches to place the tape above the third yellow tape.

Note: My group class room has a hard tile floor. When I used the black flannel backed vinyl it would slide around under the kids’ feet. So I made one using clear vinyl. This one didn’t slide nearly as much. You doesn’t grip the floor but it is moves less. For the clear vinyl I skipped steps 1 and 2. There is no extra to cut off on the side for the clear vinyl and I didn’t cut it in half. I left the vinyl 54 inches wide.

Because of the wider width the measurements for tape also changed. For the strings “silver” tapes measure over from the edge.