As a trained music therapist and a trained special education teacher, I have never felt a contradiction between these two different approaches. However, Adam Ockelford argues that there is confusion between the two practices and aims to set out a new model of practice for those who use music with children with complex needs. In doing so it is welcome that the author reminds us that that all young people, however hard to reach, need access to quality music making, music listening and music creating. His emphasis on providing developmentally relevant musical experiences will come as no surprise to music therapists. Where Ockelford's book enriches the field is in his emphasis on research into what is meant by developmentally relevant musical activities for teachers to use. This approach underpins the educational arguments he puts forward for defining musical activities as accurately as possible in relation to what he refers to as ‘psycho-musicological’ theory.

There are four sections: ‘Issues’, ‘A New Model’, ‘Addressing Special Musical Needs’ and ‘Identifying and Fostering Special Musical Abilities’. The aims of the book are to help those planning music services to understand what is on offer and to help practitioners understand their practice in the context of others, namely music teaching, music therapy and community music. Ockelford argues that there is a growing need to understand the distinction between these as they relate to educational services for this group of children, therefore increasing awareness of the rich provision of music services on offer. How far he succeeds in this extensive task is debatable. Neither of the two internationally acclaimed volumes on music therapy research, edited by Professor Barbara Wheeler (Wheeler, Reference WHEELER1995/2005), are referred to; nor the latest research on the analysis of music therapy (Wosch, Reference WOSCH and WIGRAM2007), particularly the work of Professor Karin Schumacher, whose chapter on the assessment of quality of relationship (AQR) in music therapy would be of interest to teachers.

Ockelford sets out his new model for a concept of music provision for this group of children suggesting music therapy has more to do with ‘well being’ than development. (p. 41). It needs to be pointed out that, like speech therapists and child psychotherapists, music therapists are trained to understand and work in depth with developmental aims, child development forming the basis of the two year full-time post-graduate training in the UK. Music therapy may, as a spin off, result in wellbeing, as may kind and considerate teaching, but therapeutic aims for children with special needs are detailed and specific. Music therapy is already very well defined in terms of its practice under the regulatory body of the Health Professions Council. However, Ockelford's objective is clearly to bring ‘conceptual unity’ (p. 4) to the overall use of music practices within special schools. For some readers this might sit uncomfortably, since Ockelford acknowledges that the role of the music teacher over the last four decades has not ‘evolved to include the expertise necessary to work in this highly specialised area’ (p. 3). So it risks further confusion that a music education specialist wishes to define how service providers might make use of music therapists, rather than limiting his advice to how music teaching should be implemented and developed. Music therapists aim to bring the child to a position where they can reach their potential for learning and that includes helping the child make use of specialist music teaching, when and if it becomes available. I cannot fail to correct the writer on one further point; my own book, Making Music for the Young child with Special Needs – A Guide for Parents (Streeter, Reference STREETER2001), is described as making ‘little or no reference to children with severe or profound learning disabilities’ (p. 3) yet the activities within it were entirely designed for such children. All but one of the pre-school children I featured in the book had, at the time of writing, profound learning difficulties, and all of them were severely developmentally delayed.

In his section on ‘Addressing musical needs’ (p. 73) Ockelford helpfully draws together a wealth of research from music psychology and sets out definitive developmental stages of musical experience, both interactive and reactive, and in this respect his book is a vital addition to the literature. Results from the ‘Sounds of Intent’ project will be particularly valuable (p. 75) for teachers to reflect on when working with groups of children and young people with complex needs.

In conclusion, the author takes on the task of reflecting upon, organising and defining applications of music for children with complex needs. They themselves often defy categorisation, each unique in their own personality and group of difficulties. It is not surprising therefore that those of us who have had the privilege of encountering their music feel passionately about helping these children gain the fullest access possible to a variety of complementary music practices. Perhaps for this reason too, the book may have benefited from having been written jointly with a music therapist and a community musician. For future editions the author may consider this a means of extending his umbrella so that a wider variety of perspectives can inform this rich discourse.