Abstract

This comprehensive and groundbreaking book describes the effective use of songwriting in music therapy with a variety of client populations, from children with cancer and adolescents in secondary school to people with traumatic brain injury and mental health problems.

The authors explain the specific considerations to bear in mind when working with particular client groups to achieve the best clinical outcomes. All the contributors are experienced music therapy clinicians and researchers. They provide many case examples from clinical practice to illustrate the therapeutic methods being used, together with notated examples of songs produced in therapy. Particular emphasis is placed on how lyrics and music are created, including the theoretical approaches underpinning this process.

This practical book will prove indispensable to students, clinical therapists, music therapists, educators, teachers and musicians.

I considered dipping in and out of chapters but ended up reading from cover to cover. I found it interesting and intriguing to progress through the diversity of therapists' orientations, practices and contexts, wondering how it would all come together in the end. There are inspiring ideas and moving case examples expressed in many of the chapters.
British Journal of Music Therapy
Practically oriented, instructive, inclusive and forthright, this book focuses on techniques for writing songs with clients and is geared chiefly toward music therapy clinicians, students and educators. This methods book attempts to explore and emphasize the value of songwriting within a therapeutic context and, ultimately, to define the methods and techniques used, both for teaching purposes and for the analysis and explanation of clinical processes and outcomes. This welcome effort to fully recognize the inherent value of songwriting and to systematically standardize its uses in the field was long overdue, as music therapists have long incorporated songwriting in their clinical repertoire of methods. Reading this book undoubtedly strengthens one's confidence in the procedure of songwriting with the client and in its overall effectiveness as a method of facilitating therapy. As a music therapist who, like so many others in this field, integrates songwriting in her clinical work, I feel that I derived much theoretical and practical information from Songwriting. As a methods book, I found it to be efficient, informative and interesting both to the student and to the practicing music therapist, with a refreshing variety of techniques that may enrich the songwriting repertoire of even the most experienced clinician.
Nordic Journal of Music Therapy