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FGCU360.com
A Decade Later, FGCU Music Therapy Program Strikes a Major Chord

Music therapy students learn to match activities with a therapeutic goal.
en years after its launch, Prelude to a Successful Degree
Florida Gulf Coast Program
T University’s music therapy Bower’s music therapy program
program is striking a major chord, traces its origins to the late Naples
with alumni singing the praises of a philanthropist Alan Korest, whose
profession that helps people improve $2.5 million gift to FGCU helped
their lives through the healing power establish the Bower School of Music
of music. in 2006 and included a request to
Housed in FGCU’s Bower School develop a music therapy program as
of Music & the Arts, the program has soon as feasible. His late wife, Marilyn
grown dramatically since 2015. It has Bower Korest, recognized the value of
produced more than 60 graduates and music therapy, Sena Moore said, and
enrolls an average of 45 students each he later established a music therapy
semester, according to Kimberly Sena scholarship fund in her name.
Moore, associate professor and program coordinator. FGCU offered the program’s initial course in 2014 and, after
Students gain hands-on experience through practicums and approvals from FGCU, the state of Florida, the American Music
internships with more than 60 community partners in Collier and Therapy Association and the National Association for Schools of
Lee counties and across the United States, completing a minimum Music, formally accepted its first bachelor of music therapy students
of 1,200 hours of clinical training. in August 2015.
Marisa Luizzi, a 2020 graduate and now chief program officer at A decade later, FGCU boasts graduates who are professionals
Baker Senior Center in Naples, credits a high school band teacher designing, implementing and evaluating music interventions for
with introducing her to music therapy. therapeutic rather than artistic purposes. As undergraduates, they
“We spoke of the pros and cons of being a music teacher or are trained in voice, piano and guitar, at minimum, and develop the
professional musician, and we both recognized I wasn’t passionate knowledge and skills to design experiences encompassing music
about either of those routes,” Luizzi said. “He mentioned to me the composition, improvisation, singing, instrument playing, moving to
field of music therapy and that I should do more research. From music and intentional listening.
that moment, I never looked back and knew music therapy was “Students learn how to do this in a way that is client-focused
what I wanted to do.” and has therapeutic intent,” said Sena Moore, who has served as
“My time at FGCU guided me to understand that I will be the program coordinator since 2021. “Regardless of the type of music
best professional I can be if I dedicate time to my craft,” she said. experience — singing, playing instruments, improvising — there
“That dedication carries over to everything I do in my career and should be an underlying therapeutic goal the client is focusing on.”
shaping me into the professional I am happy to be. Although I The field is still growing, as research increasingly recognizes
am not providing therapy services in my position, the degree and how music stimulates the brain, impacts cognition and aids motor
experience have given me the opportunity to grow as a professional control.
and grow within our agency.” 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.

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