A Decade Later, FGCU Music Therapy Program Strikes a Major Chord

Ten years after its launch, Florida Gulf Coast University’s music therapy program is striking a major chord, with alumni singing the praises of a profession that helps people improve their lives through the healing power of music.

Housed in FGCU’s Bower School of Music & the Arts, the program has grown dramatically since 2015. It has produced more than 60 graduates and enrolls an average of 45 students each semester, according to Kimberly Sena Moore, associate professor and program coordinator.

Students gain hands-on experience through practicums and internships with more than 60 community partners in Collier and Lee counties and across the United States, completing a minimum of 1,200 hours of clinical training.

Marisa Luizzi, a 2020 graduate and now chief program officer at Baker Senior Center in Naples, credits a high school band teacher with introducing her to music therapy.

“We spoke of the pros and cons of being a music teacher or professional musician, and we both recognized I wasn’t passionate about either of those routes,” Luizzi said. “He mentioned to me the field of music therapy and that I should do more research. From that moment, I never looked back and knew music therapy was what I wanted to do.”

“My time at FGCU guided me to understand that I will be the best professional I can be if I dedicate time to my craft,” she said. “That dedication carries over to everything I do in my career and shaping me into the professional I am happy to be. Although I am not providing therapy services in my position, the degree and experience have given me the opportunity to grow as a professional and grow within our agency.”

Music therapy students learn to match activities with a therapeutic goal.

Prelude to a Successful Degree Program

Bower’s music therapy program traces its origins to the late Naples philanthropist Alan Korest, whose$2.5 million gift to FGCU helped establish the Bower School of Music in 2006 and included a request to develop a music therapy program as soon as feasible. His late wife, Marilyn Bower Korest, recognized the value of music therapy, Sena Moore said, and he later established a music therapy scholarship fund in her name.

FGCU offered the program’s initial course in 2014 and, after approvals from FGCU, the state of Florida, the American Music Therapy Association and the National Association for Schools of Music, formally accepted its first bachelor of music therapy students in August 2015.

A decade later, FGCU boasts graduates who are professionals designing, implementing and evaluating music interventions for therapeutic rather than artistic purposes. As undergraduates, they’re trained in voice, piano and guitar, at minimum, and develop the knowledge and skills to design experiences encompassing music composition, improvisation, singing, instrument playing, moving to music and intentional listening.

“Students learn how to do this in a way that is client-focused and has therapeutic intent,” said Sena Moore, who has served as program coordinator since 2021. “Regardless of the type of music experience — singing, playing instruments, improvising — there should be an underlying therapeutic goal the client is focusing on.”

The field is still growing, as research increasingly recognizes how music stimulates the brain, impacts cognition and aids motor control.

A decade on, FGCU’s music therapy program continues to transform lives by preparing skilled, compassionate professionals whose evidence-based work uses the power of music to meet critical needs and enrich communities across Southwest Florida and beyond.