Flex-A-Tone
Etymology and Alternative Spellings
Ger. - flexaton; It. - flessatono
Alternative English Spellings:
Flexatone
Flexitone
Construction
Small sheet of spring steel in a frame with wooden strikers mounted on either side.[1] The beaters or made of wood and are mounted on thin, spring steel. All of the components are attached to a thin wire frame.
History
The invention of the flexatone is recorded in the British Patent Office records of 1922 and 1923. The original Flex-a-tone was manufactured and patented by the Playertone Company in New York in 1924. It was marketed as a new instrument that would make "jazz jazzier" and was a combination of sounds inspired by orchestral bells, song whistle, and the musical saw.[2]
Within the genre of classical music, the flexatone has been employed by composers of note such as Arthur Honegger and Arnold Schoenberg. Honegger wrote for the flexatone in Antigone (1927), and Schoenberg employed it in Variations for Orchestra (1928), Von heute auf morgen (1929), and in Moses and Aaron (1951).
Technique
The performer can hold the instrument in one hand with the palm wrapped around the wire frame and the thumb on the metal tongue/plate. The instrument can be shaken with a trembling motion moving the beaters back and forth against the metal plate. This is done while bending the metal plate with the thumb in order to bend the pitch.
For more articulate and rhythmic passages one can hold the instrument in one hand while pushing the two beaters away from the metal plate with the fingers. The performer can use an articulate mallet in the other hand to strike the metal plate.
Extended Technique
The performer can hold the instrument in one hand and separate the two beaters from the metal plate with the fingers. Using a violin, cello, or bass bow, the performer can bow the metal plate while bending the pitch.
Manufacturers
Retailers
See Also
References