As influential clinical models like Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) increasingly shape the training of future practitioners, a critical pedagogical question emerges: What values and perspectives are being implicitly taught to students through its foundational texts? This article adopts the perspective of a music educator to critically review The Oxford Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy, not primarily to evaluate its clinical efficacy, but to examine its profound implications for curriculum design and the formation of a student's professional identity. The core of this inquiry is not what music therapy should do, but what music therapy students should learn about the complex interplay between music, science, and human experience.This review deconstructs the handbook’s underlying philosophical assumptions, highlighting three key areas of pedagogical concern. First, it critiques the model’s methodological reductionism, which risks teaching students to view music as a mere neurological tool rather than a holistic artistic and cultural phenomenon. Second, it exposes a prevailing disregard for cultural context, using the adaptation of Melodic Intonation Therapy in Japan as a case study to argue for the necessity of culturally responsive pedagogy. Finally, it addresses the limitations of a purely neuro-centric worldview by engaging with foundational questions from the philosophy of mind.Ultimately, this critique argues that the education of music therapists and educators must consciously balance scientific-reductionist models with humanistic, culturally-aware perspectives. It calls for a curriculum that not only equips students with evidence-based techniques but also cultivates the critical thinking and intellectual breadth necessary to navigate the ethical and philosophical complexities inherent in any practice that sits at the intersection of art and healing.