This book from the USA describes teaching approaches, for class music and ensemble music-making, recommended when working with students who have ‘exceptionalities’ – pupils regarded as having special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the UK. Also included is a chapter on a student with ‘dual exceptionalities’, that is someone with outstanding abilities alongside considerable difficulties. The emphasis throughout is on what the teacher can consider and alter, mainly in general educational terms rather than the musical ones highlighted in the opening quotation. The unique features of music as a medium and the musical experiences and fragments of genius of those with exceptionalities are less prominent (Ockelford, Reference OCKELFORD2013; Ockelford et al., Reference OCKELFORD, WELCH, ZIMMERMANN and HIMONIDES2005).

The writers are all members of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) Commission on Music in Special Music Education and Music Therapy. Whilst the foreword mentions the need for a book covering international perspectives, the book is dominated by writing covering musical performance of established repertoire from a US perspective. Essays from three other countries cover the use of Orff techniques (in Austria), a facet of a community project (in Ireland) and the general educational benefits of using music (in Taiwan). The uplifting introductory chapter comes from Finland and raises encouraging possibilities – such as the ubiquity of music in games and the media, and the use of technology – which are, unfortunately, not developed in the book. Markku Kaikkonen also notes that those considered different people are exceptional dependent on the context, and in order to promote everyone being included in learning music the tutor needs ‘careful observation, thorough analysis, and effective practices.’ (p. 3).

So who might read this book? Firstly, music teachers interested in specific areas of exceptionality.

Alan Gertner and Lyn Schraer-Joiner's chapter on different kinds of hearing loss describes the impact of sensory impairment on particular aspects of ensemble music making and then states practical strategies for ameliorating these. The threads are drawn together in three lessons, based on listening to Holst's Mars from The Planets, which go into considerable depth, and the interested reader is supplied with an extensive bibliography to pursue. That this is the most detailed chapter perhaps reflects that the impact of deafness has been investigated for hundreds of years compared with the more recently identified and researched categories of exceptionality.

Kimberly McCord's chapter on people with dyslexia and other related specific learning difficulties goes back to dyslexia's identification in 1884, gives clear definitions of conditions, and offers some practical solutions. Around this is wrapped a vignette of a trumpeter who was not doing well in reading music notation. The writer candidly states: ‘As a music teacher, I never know which students have disabilities in my classroom. I actually don't want to know because I want everyone to meet the same high expectations’ (p. 177). The chapter ends with an example illustrating rigidity in the US band system in that the trumpeter became a successful jazz soloist purely because ‘his teacher made an exception to a rule that students can only participate in jazz band if they are members of the concert band’ (p.194).

One long established musical pedagogical approach is presented in which pupils’ improvisation in sound and movement is shown as a way of everyone being expressive in their own ways. Shirley Salmon writes about using Orff techniques, first used in inclusive settings in the 1970s. This chapter describes the musical development of some students over long periods of study, with clarity of progression routes not illustrated elsewhere in the book. Creativity and individuality are expressed in ensemble activity whilst the underlying pedagogy is clearly articulated and referenced.

Secondly, the book is of interest to those aligning musical activity with learning in other areas of the curriculum. Several chapters are thought-provoking, but others could do more to address the links between overcoming cognitive and behavioural barriers with musical activity and progress.

Elaine Bernstorf, in her chapter on ‘Reading Acquisition Frameworks for Music and Language’, proposes that, ‘Every music educator's goal is to maximise music reading ability for all children’ (p. 251) which may alienate both music teachers and those working with pupils with complex needs who are never likely to read anything. An English class music teacher's reaction to this premise might be akin to that of Vaughan Williams, when he wrote: ‘This code of signals or series of orders is known as a musical score, and has about as much to do with music as a time-table has to do with a railway journey’ (Reference VAUGHAN WILLIAMS1953); for the English National Curriculum has been founded on sound not symbol, which is realised in composition, audition and performance (Swanwick, Reference SWANWICK1979).

Christine Lapka discusses accommodations, such as playing iPads rather than acoustic band instruments, and modifications, where the pupil with exceptionalities is not expected to do as much as the other students. The impact of these differences is not considered. Indeed, rather too frequently the writers leave fascinating, if sometimes controversial, statements undeveloped, so that readers seeking to expand their knowledge of the specialist fields described are none the wiser. For example, various mentions of ‘multisensory approaches’ or ‘multiple points of entry’ are made but these are not linked to specific musical activity.

Whilst there is some description of what students with exceptionalities are able to do musically, much of the text describes how to try to fit these students into the teacher's ordinary plan of musical activity rather than probing their own individual skills and interests and pursuing those.

Thirdly, the book is of interest to those tracking the ebb and flow of music education for all, in formal education and in community projects. The writers themselves illustrate a range of approaches to the purpose and standards in music education. The formal responsibilities of those working in mainstream education in the US are outlined in a chapter at the end of the book but reference to, for example, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Acts of 1990, 1997 and 2004) and other legislation is spread throughout. Passing reference is made to specialists in particular disabilities and to classroom support professionals. Only one project mentions specialist training: that is Ryan Hourigan's Prism Project where a prime aim is to teach teachers to work in creative projects with students with autism.

To return to the Finnish approach of ‘careful observation, thorough analysis, and effective practices’ (p. 3), music tutors need to know what to expect of participants. The recent Rochford Review in England considers progress for every child. For those at the earliest stages of education where the concept of different areas of learning has yet to be established and everything is multi-sensory, the report recommends that learning is to be ‘assessed . . . against the following seven aspects of cognition and learning: responsiveness, curiosity, discovery, anticipation, persistence, initiation, investigation.’ What will those working in music hear for each of these? Could these pupil behaviours provide a framework for all musical activities including those with particular exceptionalities?

Amidst the many tables and checklists, readers are reminded of the impact of music on the individual. One of the mothers in the Irish community project (described by Grainne McHale) writes of her son, who has left school: ‘Kevin now has something to live for. That's the be all and end all . . . he knows what he wants and he's glad he's found a way that he can express it . . . through the lyrics and then getting to actually perform his own songs and to be included in a band . . . when he is up there [on stage] he is not disabled’ (pp. 117–118). Kevin himself said, through his digital voice, that his work in the music ensemble is ‘the most important thing in my life to date’ (p. 118). Music is the exceptionality with its capacity to enable everyone to be lost under its spell and found in its magic.