Re: Se toca
I was told by a professor about a year ago that you could say "se toca" to describe how an instrument is played like how "se habla inglés" is used to say English is spoken here or "se dice ...." to say that something is said, but my current professor tells me that "se toca" is not correct. I've looked around and I've seen it used in articles online. Here is an example of what I'm referring to:
"Las congas se tocan con las manos". or "La batería se toca con baquetas".
Any thoughts?
6 Answers
"Las congas se tocan con las manos" and "Las congas son tocadas con las manos" are not that different, but while the former sounds natural, the latter sounds very artificial. Your sentence is the one I'd recommend as a native.
"Se toca la batería con baquetas."
And to him that didn't make sense because it would be like saying "He touches himself the drum set with sticks." lol
Well... not quite! The word order is slightly misleading, because with this particular arrangement, one would normally choose between "touching himself" -which would be immediately discarded- and a play of drums purposefully executed by someone that is not mentioned, instead of the more logical generic "People play drums with their hands". Of course, anyone fluent in Spanish would realise that the correct interpretation is that of "La batería se toca...", but the word order is slightly unusual for this sentence (but not wrong).
Were I a student, knowing what I now know and holding the opinions that I now hold, my teachers would all hate me (for challenging their "authority"). Lazarus has already pointed out that "La batería se toca..." is easier to understand (does not permit the the momentary ambiguity of "Se toca la batería"). Nonetheless, given the entire sentence, there is little room for doubt/misinterpretation.
In short, your teacher is attempting to impose a personal preference of phraseology on the language, in general.
HI ben, what I would like to know...what does your teacher say you should use instead of tocar? 
Your sentence is perfect.
The se construction sounds fine to me there, but I'm not really familiar with the debate (if there is one). It may be wrong, but I can't really think what the objection would be, and I've seen it used before, so I would just avoid using it in front of your teacher. 
I figured out what I was confused about before. When I was asking my professor about it I was putting "se toca" at the beginning of the sentence:
"Se toca la batería con baquetas."
And to him that didn't make sense because it would be like saying "He touches himself the drum set with sticks." lol
They both sound right to me, but I'm still learning...
