LP Latin Percussion Flex-a-Tone Standard LP1-5

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György Ligeti used it in many of his works, such as his 1988 concerto for piano [26] [27] [28] [29] second movement and his opera Le Grand Macabre (1977).

The Wikipedia article on the Flexatone describes it as one such later invention, patented first in the 1920s in Britain and soon after the US, and used early on as “funny sound effect”, for theatrical use rather, but also in jazz music circles. o.): when they perform live there is often – not always - a percussion set as part of the musicians. Digitalization is also found in relatively later Reggae since the 1980s, when the synth got used more, in Early Dancehall, but even in some Roots Reggae, alongside drum, bass, guitar, or horns.I listened and listen quite some Reggae, and keep quite up to date, so a sensible list that is illustrative is quite possible. Regarding mainstream Soul, the tambourine seemed to have been used most in Motown recordings, among the percussion, despite an occasional use of conga’s or bongos. It gives an interesting list of songs, but fails to mention any Reggae song, while there are several examples. The sound itself – despite its use - of the Flexatone, kind of a glissando bell, may not seem traditionally African to some, although metal “bells” or scrapers are used since long in African traditional music.

The metal plate of the flexatone is hit alternatively on each side by wooden or rubber beaters or balls that are attached to a clock spring. All these African instruments’ sounds, have to differing degrees sonic similarities with the “glissando/gliding” or “flexing metal” aspect of the Flexatone. The Flexatone is a modern percussion instrument consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. Alfred Schnittke used it in his Faust Cantata (1983), in the Tuba Mirum movement of his Requiem (1975), in his Viola Concerto (1985), [25] and in his score for the ballet Peer Gynt (1987), the flexatone represents the sound of the moaning wind.How to play: hold the flexatone in one hand with the palm around the wire frame and the thumb on the free end of the spring steel. Aside from jazz and Reggae, the flexatone was also used in classical music, in pop recordings, as well as in other genres.

Tarrus Riley, Chuck Fender, Richie Spice, Lutan Fyah, Queen Ifrica, Iba Mahr, Morgan Heritage etcetera etcetera), and the Riddims made for their songs, may have used the Flexatone. In contemporary music of the 20th century between around 1920 and 1970 the term "Flexatone" has been used on one hand for the instrument flexatone, on the other hand for the musical saw. In Israel Vibration’s My Brother’s Keeper, the Flexatone is used more subtly, also softer or “buried”/”drowned” more in the mix. My list is just illustrative and informative, and not meant as exhaustive nor as representative as such. Also the newer New Roots artists, besides Chronixx, (Sizzla, Luciano, Bushman, Buju Banton, Anthony B.The rhythmic/semi-melodic use of the Flexatone in Reggae is an African retention of the sounds of certain African traditional instruments, especially the “musical bow” (or the mouth bow), as found especially in Central and Southern Africa, a musical heritage that came with the enslaved Africans to the West, and an island like Jamaica. The cellist in Sofia Gubaidulina's The Canticle of the Sun (1998) plays a bowed flexatone before the final section. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. On some songs of this One Stone album I seem to hear – softly - the “glissando”, characteristic of the Flexatone, setting it thus apart from other (metal) bells used. These possibilities have been used widely in various genres, though one can say that the variation and use differs per genre.