Book Review: Stine Lindahl Jacobsen, Eric G. Waldon and Gustavo Gattino (eds), Music Therapy Assessment: Theory, Research, and Application

There has been a long-standing debate around the relevance and usefulness of (standardised) assessment in music therapy. In my experience, Music Therapists sometimes feel that assessment in music therapy is reductionist and that, by trying to measure or analyse or quantify what happens in a music therapy relationship, it somehow takes something away from the spontaneous creativity and connection that comes from shared musical experience. This position reminds me of the famous quote ‘writing about music is like dancing about architecture’ (Sperrazza, 1979) that seems to express the challenge of trying to articulate what happens when someone has a musical experience. As Music Therapists we have all had those experiences and understand, perhaps more than most, the capacity that music has to bring about observable, positive changes in clients that we work with. I would argue that it is our responsibility to be able to articulate these experiences coherently and concisely in order to be able to communicate with our clients, their families, our colleagues in other disciplines, employers and commissioners about the unique affect that musical experiences can have. Without assessment, how do we, as clinicians, know how to apply music in the most effective way in order to bring about positive change? In the foreword to this book, Barbara Wheeler states,