Used Musical Instruments
Buying used musical instruments has advantages and disadvantages. For instance, a good quality instrument can be found at a lower price than when compared with buying a new one. On the other hand, there is always an element of risk involved when buying a used musical instrument. Another difficulty is that there are no warranties associated with used instruments, unless the instrument is fairly new. When purchasing a used musical instrument, it is advisable to keep some of these things in mind.
A good way to determine a used instrument’s condition is to know who owned it in the past. If buying the instrument from a garage sale, it may be possible to meet the owner and ask him how long he used it and why it is being sold. If buying it online, make sure that the online shop has a good customer satisfaction rating, or better still, a return policy. There are several Web sites that have attractive and colorful pictures of musical instruments that they are selling. They also feature exhaustive information about the products. Having these pictures helps the buyer to make a better choice when ordering the instrument. Pictures are especially useful for locating a particular kind or rare kinds of musical instruments. If buying it from a music store, ask the salesperson if it is possible to know the name of its previous owner, how long it has been in the store, and other such details.
When buying a used instrument, it is advisable to be accompanied by someone who has a good knowledge of musical instruments. They can help decide whether the instrument is in a good condition by playing it and listening to how it sounds and how it feels while playing it. These things will help decide if the instrument is worth purchasing or not. Research all aspects of the instrument before purchasing it. Find out how much a brand new one costs by going to different music stores. Then compare the prices and the condition of the instruments and decide whether it is a good deal. When the final purchase decision is made, make sure that the money being paid for it is worth it.
The Benefits of Music and Music Therapy For Children With Special Needs
Music can be a motivating and fun way to teach all children and in particular children who have special learning needs. It is unquestionable that through the medium of music many essential and enabling life skills can be learned and the benefits that playing and learning music can have on a child’s growth and development are immeasurable.
All children have the same need to express themselves and playing a musical instrument can provide an outlet for creative and emotional expression. When we think of music we don’t often think of it as therapy. But it can be.
The playing of good quality percussion instruments during music therapy sessions can be of inestimable value for children who have difficulties in hearing, seeing, moving, thinking or responding; each can experience the music in their own unique way. The music is not the goal of music therapy. Cognitive stimulation, self-expression, self-awareness, or increased motor movements are some of the goals that music therapy can focus on and the music itself is simply a tool to achieve these goals.
Listening to music for enjoyment is very beneficial but active participation is even better. For children and adolescents with cerebral palsy, playing music may be an effective way to stimulate speech development and communication skills, express emotions, develop a sense of rhythm and provide opportunity for physical, cognitive and motor development whilst creating an environment for socialisation and fun.
Every child can be helped to learn to enjoy and to become involved in music to some degree and instruments tuned to a harmonic pentatonic scale which produce a soothing sound straightaway, makes playing them an instantly gratifying experience.
Playing music and music therapy has proven to be a very effective method in dealing with autism and aspergers syndrome. Most children diagnosed with Autism or Asperger’s lack the social skills that enable them to participate fully in play and other social situations. Interestingly, many children with autism show a heightened interest in music. While they may be unable to easily communicate verbally with others, music is an avenue for many autistic people to express themselves and communicate in a non-verbal, non-threatening manner. Playing music puts the individual at ease, allowing for strides in social interactions to follow.
Easy access to musical instruments may provide an outlet that encourages children to use music to deal with emotional issues, especially when they are unable to express them through speech. Where words fail, music may be a medium through which to explore one’s inner world and experiences. Often people with developmental delays and learning disabilities such as Down’s syndrome will respond to music. The easy, non-challenging way in which pentatonic instruments can be played offers opportunities for response and expression to children and adults with such developmental delays.
Musical instruments in the classroom or playground offer blind or partially sighted children the opportunity to explore and musical sound and awareness. Instruments, which are simple to play and enable creative experimentation and tactile exploration, encourage the use of motor skills, thus developing coordination whilst stimulating the imagination.
Music is a tool that is used in pain management and healing for children undergoing medical procedures and as a comfort for those who have suffered a traumatic experience. Music can be a powerful distraction, turning the patient’s attention away from pain and promoting relaxation as well as to help ward off depression, promote movement and ease muscle tension.
The use of music in group therapy has long been advocated and practiced in the music therapy profession, in addition to the purely musical benefits, playing in an ensemble is useful for working on concepts such as cooperation with others, coordination, and a sense of accomplishment. Making music and singing songs together in a group can build a harmonious cooperative spirit of support and encouragement for everyone. Children who experience severe obstacles in forming relationships with other children, adults and their environment can achieve security and joy in making music. Music making involves many of the fundamental elements of social interaction; turn taking, listening and responding to another person can all be augmented in music therapy.
To see, hear and play musical instruments at school or in community programs is an important cultural experience for every child. While music therapy is an important discipline, you can also achieve benefits from making music on your own. Successful projects include sensory or music gardens where musical instruments have been installed outdoors, making them accessible at break times as well as for use with the curriculum. Playgrounds and outdoor spaces should be viewed as therapeutic settings and an outdoor music centre or garden could enhance learning and development for both children with and without special needs.
John Calvin Versus John Frame on Worship: Should Musical Instruments Be Used In Church Services?
I have long said: If someone tries to argue with you against the regulative principle of worship it is always a good idea to ask them what they are going to put in its place (making sure that they provide Scriptural proof for all those “liberties” and ceremonies which they conjure up out of their own brains). Also ask them: By what standard are you binding my conscience to your forms and ideas regarding worship? Where does God institute this? Or, are you just making this up yourself? Because for those who are familiar with the humanistic systems that have already developed in opposition to the Scriptural law of worship, it will soon be apparent “that there is nothing new under the sun.”
These “new” ideas regarding worship vary little (in practice), and not at all (in principle), with the ideas set forth in opposition to the Reformers throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There is no neutrality! You are going to buy into a system (whether you know it or not); and the system you buy into is guaranteed *not* to be new (at the level of principle). You will either worship God according to His appointment or you will do so at the behest of men (Matt. 15:9).
That John Calvin and John Frame hold to diametrically opposed views on worship is obvious to those familiar with both authors. One clear example of a specific point of divergence between Calvin and Frame can be seen in their views of the application of the regulative principle as it comes to bear on the question of the use of musical instruments in public worship (though application to Frame concerning the differences between his and Calvin’s conception of worship could fill a book in and of themselves).
I am deliberately choosing an area that seems insignificant to most Christian’s today (instrumental music) to make this point, for we have seen (in Eire’s book, “War Against the Idols”) that Calvin “constantly warns that it is dangerous to accept even the most insignificant form of material worship in the Church.” I am choosing the instruments question to illustrate Frame’s rejection of the regulative principle because the most important point to remember is not found in the actual practice which I will note (though it is a sin to use instruments in public worship), but in the prior abandonment of the regulative principle which must first take place before this idolatrous practice can be performed.
Frame believes that “we are free to use instrumental music, even without words,” to cover other distracting noises during worship (p. 130). Furthermore, as worship leader in his congregation he encourages individuals in the congregation “to clap, whistle, tap tambourines, or otherwise use their gifts to enhance worship” (p. 148). He also plays instrumental solos, but would in principle “like to see more instrumentalists” than just himself (p. 148). Finally, as if to totally thumb his nose at the Reformers and the regulative principle (and embrace an outright popish heresy), Frame states that he does “not believe that we are limited to the instruments mentioned in Scripture, but in considering how to set hymns to music, the biblical instrumentation can give us some clues.”
In contrast to Frame’s view Calvin says, “To sing the praises of God upon the harp and psaltery, unquestionably formed a part of the training of the law and of the service of God under that dispensation of shadows and figures; but they are not now to be used in public thanksgiving.” (Calvin on Ps. lxxi. 22).He says again: “With respect to the tabret, harp, and psaltery, we have formerly observed, and will find it necessary afterwards to repeat the same remark, that the Levites, under the law, were justified in making use of instrumental music in the worship of God; it having been his will to train his people, while they were yet tender and like children, by such rudiments until the coming of Christ. But now, when the clear light of the gospel has dissipated the shadows of the law and taught us that God is to be served in a simpler form, it would be to act a foolish and mistaken part to imitate that which the prophet enjoined only upon those of his own time” (Calvin on Ps. lxxxi. 3).
I have often said that we (as Protestants) would no more use instruments in worship than we would take a sheep or goat up to the front of our meeting house and slaughter it, as if that had some religious significance for today. Both instrumental music and animal sacrifice were ordained parts of worship originating in the now abrogated Old Testament ceremonial law. If you don’t think this is an accurate statement ask yourself this question: Were musical instruments part of the ceremonial or moral law? — and why? This is why the use of musical instruments in public worship was often called “the badge of Popery” by the Reformers (cf. R.J. George’s “The Badge of Popery: Musical Instruments in Public Worship”). It was also considered a denial of the work of Christ (bringing back those ceremonial shadows which disappeared in the light of the work of Christ).