Edwards, I. (ed.). (2007). Music: Promoting health and creating community in healthcare contexts. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 202 pages. ISBN 1-84718-351-4. $52.99

Edwards, J. (ed.). (2007). Music: Promoting health and creating community in healthcare contexts. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 202 pages. ISBN 1-84718-351-4. $52.99 The book, Music: Promoting Health and Creating Community in Healthcare, was the result of a 2005 symposium on music and health held at the World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland. The first music therapy degree program in Ireland was established at the University of Limerick in 1998 and is now headed by Jane Edwards. The 2005 Symposium brought together 16 colleagues from 8 countries to address the broad use of music and the arts in healthcare settings. Twelve of the participants contributed chapters to this book. The philosophical orientation and expertise of the contributors varies greatly and is not confined to a traditional music therapy orientation. Edwards intended this book to be an overview of contemporary practices in the use of music to promote health and well-being in the United Kingdom and to be an exploration of the possible tensions between music therapy and art in health care initiatives. It succeeds on both counts. Chapter 1 by Clare O'Callaghan, RMT is entitled "Music Therapy Inspired Transient Ward Communities in Oncology." It is an overview of her music therapy work in a hospital setting focusing on the use of music to form "transient ward communities," which she defines as a group of people united by a cooperative spirit providing a helpful social connection. O'Callaghan believes that music therapy experiences on the hospital wards creates these transient ward communities (contrasted to a community music therapy model) with psychosocial group expression through the music and other creative art experiences, song writing, and provision of music in open spaces as "musical environmental therapy." A large portion of the chapter is devoted to an overview of research that the author conducted as part of her doctoral dissertation. This research focused on evidence as to the mechanism for creating these helpful communities and on how useful they are. For the research, O'Callaghan collected anonymous written feedback on people's perception of the relevance of music therapy. She also kept a detailed journal of her thoughts and reactions to the sessions she conducted. She then analyzed both the feedback and journal entries using thematic analysis informed by grounded theory. Conclusions included that transient ward communities were created where music therapy enabled a "music space" to be formed, psychosocial, or spiritual benefits were noted, and the music experiences had a profound effect on the staff. This chapter was hard to follow and lacked a clear organization of the material. It did introduce an important psychosocial research approach and the use of grounded theory in investigating the effects of a music therapy program in a hospital setting. Chapter 2, entitled "Developing Music Therapy Programs in Medical Practice and Healthcare Communities," is by American music therapist, Joanne Loewy, MT-BC. The chapter reports on the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine program she established at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. The chapter describes research conducted on pain management and on the research that established three areas of profound effect of music therapy in pediatric care: 1) helping children breathe, 2) assisting in sleep and sedation, and 3) relieving anxiety when a child has fear of sleeping or resting toward the end of life. The remaining portion of this well-organized chapter delineates the Model of Integrative Medical Music Psychotherapy, which is the basis of the program at Beth Israel and is based on a psycho-spiritual commitment to health. This model first involves enhancement of the medical aspects of treatment through the music and, secondly, the use of the music process to build from a patient's inner resources or "treating the patient from within. …