Music as Medicine: The History of Music Therapy Since Antiquity by Peregrine HordenReview by: Teresa BaileyNotes, Second Series, Vol. 57, No. 3 (Mar., 2001), pp. 603-604Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/900801 .

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Book Reviews

Music as Medicine: The History of Music Therapy since Antiquity. Edited by Peregrine Horden. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 2000. [viii, 401 p. ISBN 1-84014-299-5. $69.95.]

Music as Medicine is a collection of essays that grew out of a 1997 conference held at the University of London, where the editor, Peregrine Horden, is a lecturer in the his- tory of medicine. The essays, contributed by historians, musicologists, anthropolo- gists, and one music therapist, focus pri- marily on Western European texts on the performance and reception of music as therapy. This collection is the first scholarly historical examination of the theory and practice of music therapy based on extant manuscripts and texts to be published in

English. As such, it represents a long over- due effort to define and describe a group of practices that is often discussed, but with few concrete references to the past. In ad- dition, it brings scholarly critical tools to bear on a clinical professional field that is still finding its way toward an accepted identity within the larger practice of medi- cine.

The title of the book, as well as Horden's introduction and opening essay, however, give the reader a false expectation of the actual scope of this work. It is neither a comprehensive history of music therapy in the Western tradition (as the title implies) nor an explicit examination of the prac- tices using music in various healing and ex- perimental settings (as Horden's first chap- ter, despite his caveats, might lead one to hope). The majority of the essays deal ex- plicitly or implicitly with Galenic humoral medicine, the philosophical tensions be- tween Platonic and Aristotelian theories of knowledge, and the applications of these traditions to the human condition as recorded in various texts of Western intel- lectual history.

This undertaking alone is an enormous accomplishment, and the collection is wel- come for its contribution to our under- standing of both historical and contempo- rary ideas and practices in context. One author after another, however, laments the lack of documentation of actual practices, tunes, texts, and other supporting informa- tion. The result is that, with the exception of the tarantella as treatment for tarantula bites, neither the music nor its practical

therapeutic applications have been ac- cessed and examined. For the most part, the authors can do little more than the repetitive sources they cite, that is, recount the extant testimonies as well as the argu- ments for and against them that have sur- vived.

Several essays, however, transcend these limitations and open windows into the minds of both practitioners and theorists of music as a healing element in human exis- tence. Among the essays, Penelope Gouk's chapter, "Music, Melancholy, and Medical Spirits in Early Modern Thought," provides the most cogent and thorough introduc- tion to premodern medicine and the role music is likely to have played within that field. All of the essays in part 3, "Renais- sance and Early Modern Europe," succeed in moving beyond the Platonic-Aristotelian philosophical academic struggles to place them in a larger social and cultural con- text. That context is, however, that of wealthy, educated, literate men, their suf- ferings and solutions. This is a limitation with which most historians of premodern Europe must contend. It is also one that readers of this volume who are not trained historians might find difficult to accept as representative of the practice of music ther- apy. This situation is not directly addressed in either Horden's section commentaries or the essays themselves in a way that invites readers from other fields to consider these texts and arguments as forming the basis for many of the philosophical and practical struggles surrounding the theory and prac- tice of music therapy both then and now. It is precisely this intellectual heritage of Plato, Aristotle, and Galen that has set much of the Western agenda for disci- plined inquiry, and that, to a great extent (except for Galenic medicine), continues not only to frame the questions we ask, but also to limit the answers we might consider.

These limits are stretched by the pres- ence of essays on non-European music therapy, including Amnon Shiloah's contri- bution, "Jewish and Muslim Traditions." This chapter is essential background for understanding these traditions not only in

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NOTES, March 2001 NOTES, March 2001

their own contexts, but also in the context of the dominant European culture, which adopted and modified them through the filters of both Greek antiquity and Christian theology. We learn that Christi- anity is not the only Abrahamic religion that struggled with music's dual ability to rouse as well as calm the body and its pas- sions. Shiloah's scholarship further under- lines the necessity of being able to read source texts in the original languages. These texts, with respect to the use of mu- sic in healing, are in some ways as impor- tant as the Greek and Roman classics, if not more so, for understanding the social, sci- entific, philosophical, and religious under- pinnings of both historical and contempo- rary music therapeutic practices. This is especially true for Mediterranean countries that had closer and more continuous con- tact with Semitic cultures than did north- ern Europe.

Music as Medicine is a collection of essays that promises far more than it delivers, yet what it delivers is valuable in its own right. It is clear that, for the most part, the au-

their own contexts, but also in the context of the dominant European culture, which adopted and modified them through the filters of both Greek antiquity and Christian theology. We learn that Christi- anity is not the only Abrahamic religion that struggled with music's dual ability to rouse as well as calm the body and its pas- sions. Shiloah's scholarship further under- lines the necessity of being able to read source texts in the original languages. These texts, with respect to the use of mu- sic in healing, are in some ways as impor- tant as the Greek and Roman classics, if not more so, for understanding the social, sci- entific, philosophical, and religious under- pinnings of both historical and contempo- rary music therapeutic practices. This is especially true for Mediterranean countries that had closer and more continuous con- tact with Semitic cultures than did north- ern Europe.

Music as Medicine is a collection of essays that promises far more than it delivers, yet what it delivers is valuable in its own right. It is clear that, for the most part, the au-

thors are writing as and for specialist acade- micians. The collection's coverage of its topic ranges from overly general to usefully specific, yet it fails to meet the expectations raised on the jacket of "establish [ing] the whole shape of the history of music therapy ... and set[ting] the agenda for future re- search." Music as Medicine suffers most from overambitiousness, and it would have been more successful had its subtitle been, say, Tozoard an Epistemology of Music as a Healing Element in Western Medical, Philosophical, and Religious Thought. In the end, the reader comes away with no more clarity about what music therapy is than before the book was opened, and there is no obvious direc- tion that future researchers are likely to take. This is not, in and of itself, a bad thing at this stage of inquiry; the field re- mains wide open for those who seek new areas for fresh inquiries. Music as Medicine has erected the first few place markers and warning signs for those who will follow.

TERESA BAILEY Los Altos, California

thors are writing as and for specialist acade- micians. The collection's coverage of its topic ranges from overly general to usefully specific, yet it fails to meet the expectations raised on the jacket of "establish [ing] the whole shape of the history of music therapy ... and set[ting] the agenda for future re- search." Music as Medicine suffers most from overambitiousness, and it would have been more successful had its subtitle been, say, Tozoard an Epistemology of Music as a Healing Element in Western Medical, Philosophical, and Religious Thought. In the end, the reader comes away with no more clarity about what music therapy is than before the book was opened, and there is no obvious direc- tion that future researchers are likely to take. This is not, in and of itself, a bad thing at this stage of inquiry; the field re- mains wide open for those who seek new areas for fresh inquiries. Music as Medicine has erected the first few place markers and warning signs for those who will follow.

TERESA BAILEY Los Altos, California

America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century. By Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. [xvi, 303 p. ISBN 0-8078-2484-4. $45.]

America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century. By Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. [xvi, 303 p. ISBN 0-8078-2484-4. $45.]

This is and will remain the definitive his- tory of the production, advertisement, and distribution of the banjo in nineteenth- century America, of its "transformation from African folk origins into a sophisti- cated parlor and orchestra instrument" (p. 3). The authors address the intersection of organology, technology, and the music business, with less but significant attention paid to sociology, and with music often mentioned but little discussed. Philip Gura, a cultural historian and Americanist, wrote the text, while avid banjo collector James Bollman allowed the use of his magnificent array of instruments, photographs, and other documents, and also read the text for errors of fact. Gura's writing combines comprehensiveness with ingratiating infor- mality and many graceful turns of phrase. The book is so dense in its documentation and technological detail that few apart from banjo lovers will read it from cover to cover. Yet nearly one hundred lush color plates and half again as many black-and-

This is and will remain the definitive his- tory of the production, advertisement, and distribution of the banjo in nineteenth- century America, of its "transformation from African folk origins into a sophisti- cated parlor and orchestra instrument" (p. 3). The authors address the intersection of organology, technology, and the music business, with less but significant attention paid to sociology, and with music often mentioned but little discussed. Philip Gura, a cultural historian and Americanist, wrote the text, while avid banjo collector James Bollman allowed the use of his magnificent array of instruments, photographs, and other documents, and also read the text for errors of fact. Gura's writing combines comprehensiveness with ingratiating infor- mality and many graceful turns of phrase. The book is so dense in its documentation and technological detail that few apart from banjo lovers will read it from cover to cover. Yet nearly one hundred lush color plates and half again as many black-and-

white photos and line drawings offer their own narrative, one as informative as sen- sual; few books featuring such meticulous scholarship will repose as easily on a coffee table.

The opening chapter, a review of previ- ous scholarship on the origins of the banjo (and thus the only section that is not an original contribution) contains the book's only questionable interpretations. Was the banjo a straightforward transferral or con- flation of African instruments (p. 2), or was it somewhat less directly linked, merely "de- rive[d] from African ancestors" (p. 1)? The received belief that "Africans and African- Americans had been making music with similar longnecked stringed instruments" (p. 11) is true, but oversimplified. West African string instruments had been (and still are) quite varied, falling into two main groups: lutes (see Eric Charry, "Plucked Lutes in West Africa: An Historical Over- view," Galpin Society Journal 49 [1996]: 3-37) and rather more common harps, on

white photos and line drawings offer their own narrative, one as informative as sen- sual; few books featuring such meticulous scholarship will repose as easily on a coffee table.

The opening chapter, a review of previ- ous scholarship on the origins of the banjo (and thus the only section that is not an original contribution) contains the book's only questionable interpretations. Was the banjo a straightforward transferral or con- flation of African instruments (p. 2), or was it somewhat less directly linked, merely "de- rive[d] from African ancestors" (p. 1)? The received belief that "Africans and African- Americans had been making music with similar longnecked stringed instruments" (p. 11) is true, but oversimplified. West African string instruments had been (and still are) quite varied, falling into two main groups: lutes (see Eric Charry, "Plucked Lutes in West Africa: An Historical Over- view," Galpin Society Journal 49 [1996]: 3-37) and rather more common harps, on

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