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Exceptional Music Pedagogy for children with exceptionalities edited by Deborah VanderLinde Blair and Kimberly A. McCord . New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. 305 pp, paperback. £22.99. ISBN 978-0-19-023457-7

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, 2013; Ockelford et al., 2005). 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