Music therapy is growing internationally to be one of the leading evidence-based psychosocial allied health professions to meet needs across the lifespan.The Oxford Handbook of Music Therapy is the most comprehensive text on this topic in its history. It presents exhaustive coverage of the topic from international leaders in the field.

Music Therapy and Parent Infant Bonding is the first title in the field of music therapy to explore the contribution that music therapy can make in the very early years, for instance in situations regarding adopted children, or in ameliorating the effects of maternal depression on the parent-infant relationship.

Medical music therapy has received growing attention in the past decade. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is an area of great potential for music therapy intervention. This book addresses the development of NICU music therapy from a variety of perspectives (medical, nursing, social work and child life) incorporating observation, research and clinical practice. While much excellent pioneering work has researched the use of pre-recorded music with infants, this book focuses primarily on the use of live, clinical improvisation and music psychotherapy approaches which include the impact of the parent/s and of music's ability to enhance bonding. In attempting to work with the fragile population of infants and their caregivers in the neonatal intensive care units, music therapists assess the musical sounds that a baby produces, which are indicative of his/her physical functioning: the tone of the cry, the rhythms of the heart and breathing, physical cues in movement, sucking and eating patterns, awake and asleep states. Topics covered include: the effect of music and sound on perinatal brain development, team centered and family centered approaches to music therapy in the NICU, various techniques including the effect of contingent music to increase non-nutritive sucking of premature infants, the use of infant directed singing as a mechanism for bonding, developing and communicating, and the effects of gentle, Environmental Music Therapy (EMT) and its effect upon live music on the sound environment of the NICU, as well as case studies, theoretical discussions and research.

A long-awaited revision of the classic 1977 text that laid the foundations for the development of their pioneering improvisational practice of music therapy. It is a large book of nineteen chapters and over 500 pages with almost 5 hours of clinical work on four CDs that accompany the print book, or with the same audio files embedded in an enhanced e-book. Included are clinical examples of music therapy with twenty-four variously disabled children, 5 comprehensive case studies, detailed illustrations, notational examples and discussions of clinical and musical techniques, 3 evaluation scales, and a complete set of improvisation techniques.

This book synthesizes and analyzes research on early vocal contact (EVC) for preterm infants, an early healthcare strategy aimed at reducing the long-term impact of neonatal hospitalization, minimizing negative impacts of premature birth, and promoting positive brain development. Chapters begin by examining research on the maternal voice and its unique and fundamental role in infant development during the fetal and neonatal period. The book discusses the rationale for EVC with preterm infants, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms, and the challenges for infants’ development. Subsequent chapters highlight various EVCs that are used in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), including direct talking and singing to preterm infants. In addition, the book also presents and evaluates early family-centered therapies as well as paternal and other caregiver voice interventions. Topics featured in this book include: Early vocal contact and the language development of preterm infants. The maternal voice and its influence on the stability and the sleep of preterm infants. Parental singing as a form of early interactive contact with the preterm infant. Recorded or live music interventions in the bioecology of the NICU. The role of the music therapist to hospitalized infants. The Calming Cycle Theory and its implementation in preterm infants. Early Vocal Contact and Preterm Infant Brain Development is an essential reference for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology, pediatrics, neuroscience, obstetrics and nursing.