Aldridge, D. (2005). Case Study Designs in Music Therapy. Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 288 pages. ISBN 1 84310 140 8. $35.95

Aldridge, D. (2005). case Study Designs in Music Therapy. Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 288 pages. ISBN 1 843101408. $35.95. Once I received this book, I was most intrigued by the title. As a university professor always seeking new and innovative texts for students learning basics and advanced methods of research, I was glad to know that David Aldridge recognized the need for such a book. The idea that there is a music therapy source for clinicians and researchers doing case study research is a relief. This text has the potential to enlighten music therapists worldwide on the research and clinical work being done. In the book, case study designs are presented by researchers from Germany, Norway, Australia, Israel, Denmark, and the United States. The book is divided into 11 chapters, 1 and 11 are written by the author, and 2 through 10 describe different case study designs in music therapy. The designs in chapters 2 through 5 are generally qualitative and in chapters 6 through 10, the designs are quantitative. In this review, I will summarize my thoughts about each chapter and conclude with a summary of my overall impression of the book. In chapter 1, the author makes an argument for the right of music therapists to conduct varied designs of case study research. It is clear that he believes that accepted quantitative methods of research are valid but not always effective based on the section titled "Therapy, Treatment or Care?" (p. 19). In this introductory chapter, "case" and "case study" were clearly defined as was the purpose of the book. The author makes several references to the chapters that follow, which gave me a sense of anticipation. A particular point of interest is the section entitled "Research as Advocacy, the Idea that Burns" (p. 21) where the author states his beliefs about the state of music therapy research with nine salient points. From a reader's perspective, I appreciated how the author structured this section. Generally, this chapter is philosophical in nature and not a literature review as expected. Besides the points mentioned in the previous paragraph, the philosophical ideas and arguments were difficult to follow. The ideas were a bit too esoteric and abstract and did not seem to connect to each other, which made reading difficult. Chapter 2, entitled "Therapeutic Narrative Analysis," describes a qualitative approach. The author clearly describes five phases of the approach and three levels of interpretation during the sessions. The design explanation is supported by a constructivist approach in which melody constructs are detected and analyzed during the analysis. The author then presents the qualitative data analysis and a chart visually representing the constructs detected. Finally, a model illustrates the progression of melody constructs with cycles defined. This approach is presented in a way that I found useful as a clinician and professor. I found the approach from a clinician's perspective, easy to understand and replicate, and from a professor's perspective, informative and something that could be taught to students. Overall, the author did a very nice job of describing a qualitative case study analysis technique. Chapter 3 is a full narrative, a story of a music therapist's work in palliative care with a patient diagnosed with leukemia. The author describes specific music techniques implemented over a 2 year treatment period for this patient. This chapter could be helpful for someone who needs ideas for techniques related to the treatment of patients in the palliative care. The design was not as evident as in other chapters, but the information provided was clinically useful. Chapter 4 describes a qualitative case study design analyzing 19 songs created by 5 children in a hospital setting. The author illustrates the sources of data and gives a detailed description of the analysis of one particular song, providing a print out of the actual music page in the chapter. …