Long overdue is a revision of William Sears’ “Processes in Music Therapy,” Chapter Two of E. Thayer Gaston’s edited work, Music in Therapy, 1964, and such is the centerpiece of the present work. The revision presents in greater detail the Processes, and finely characterizes them with well-crafted graphic figures. The most significant change is the proper elevation of “music demands time-ordered behavior” from a construct, that is an explicit relation between music and human behavior, to its position as the overarching force that allows music to happen.

Moving beyond the Processes, this book presents a group of Sears’ lectures and addresses, all of which were taken from tape recordings. One chapter fittingly focuses on time, borrowing heavily from J. T. Fraser, the world-renown dean of the study of time. In addition to the figures displayed in the Processes chapter, Sears had more to say about the value of models as teaching tools in the chapter, “Models for Thinking.” Yet another chapter topic, “The Influence of Music on Behavior,” constantly held Sears’ attention. “On Music, Mind, Education and Human Behavior” is drawn from a plenary presentation at NAMT’s 1977 conference in Anaheim CA. Rounding out the collection is a discussion of general semantics and existential implications for music therapy. This book is a must for music therapists who found the original Processes compelling, yet confusing, and for those who have come on the scene since then. 2007 (ISBN 978-1-891278-48-8), 180 pages, $38.

Reviews By:

Carolyn Kenny in the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy Online, 2008