Experiential learning trip connects music therapy students with Cleveland arts community

In spring 2025, first-year students in OHIO’s Music Therapy program participated in a new experiential learning initiative designed to introduce them to real-world music therapy practice. The program, called Bobcats at the Beck, took the group from Athens to Cleveland for hands-on experiences with music therapists, arts organizations and community partners. What began as a learning trip ultimately led to new professional connections, lasting memories and even a generous donation of instruments to support the program - a gift celebrated during Homecoming 2025.

Conceived by Director of Arts in Health and Associate Professor of Music Therapy Dr. Sharon R. Boyle and funded through the First Year Student Experience and Faculty Engagement Mini-Grant Program, the Bobcats at the Beck trip gave students early, meaningful exposure to the field and to the many paths available to practicing music therapists.

Boyle, whose longtime partnerships with music therapists in Northeast Ohio helped shape the experience, saw the trip as a chance to connect with students while broadening their view of what music therapy can look like.

She explained that the trip was a “great way for us to get to know the first-year students in the undergrad program and show them possibilities in the music therapy field in different areas.”

The visit began at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where students observed Toddler Rock, a collaborative program developed by Beck Center for the Arts Executive Director and music therapist Ed Gallagher. The program welcomes busloads of three- to five-year-olds from Step Forward, Cuyahoga County’s anti-poverty agency and Head Start provider, and engages them in music-led learning experiences. Students not only watched the program in action but actively supported and interacted with the young participants.

“I loved working with the little ones,” said Julia Porter, a second-year music therapy student. “They were all so sweet and eager to learn. I think using the skills I've learned since being at college got to really shine during that time. I was [also] very surprised how organized everything was! All the kids knew where to go and what was expected of them. It was so cool being a part of their process.”

For Jessica Fletcher, assistant professor of instruction in Music Therapy, this experience was a reminder of her time as an undergraduate herself, as she studied in northeast Ohio and previously took part in Toddler Rock in her own studies.

“We're from here in Athens, our practicums have this lovely experience of getting to go into this kind of smaller rural areas or school districts,” Fletcher said. “We get that Appalachian community vibe. So, getting that experience engaging with a different city, environment and getting to meet four to five music therapists at once…students were getting this breadth of perspective.”

The group then traveled to the Beck Center for the Arts for a tour, lunch, and discussion about HeRe We Arts®, a program developed by Cleveland Clinic’s Arts & Medicine Research Manager Dr. Lisa Gallagher, an OHIO Music Therapy alum, OHIO Alumni Board member and current adjunct faculty member in the Master of Applied Arts in Health program. Students also toured the Creative Arts Therapies building and explored the Beck Center’s theater, dance and visual arts spaces.

Boyle emphasized how important professional relationship-building is in the field. “Teaching students about building relationships in their field and how having those connections are important for your career…what we can do today is based on relationships developed across my career.”

This lesson became even more tangible when the Gallaghers were able to donate percussion instruments to students thanks to an ongoing partnership they had developed with Grover/Trophy Music Group’s sales manager and friend of music therapy, Sam Marchuk. Finding himself with an excess of instruments after a merger, Marchuk had reached out to the Gallaghers with the possibility that these could be distributed to music therapy programs.

Upon returning to Athens, the students showcased their new instruments in a year-end performance titled Bobcats Bring Rock Back.

“Learning about Beck and Toddler Rock made me more aware of the way music therapy can be utilized and making careers out of it,” Porter said.

Fletcher noted that the success of this trip has inspired the program to continue building similar opportunities.

“We kind of took [this] as a pilot project. Our hope is that we establish maybe two to three places, around the state of Ohio, as collaborative partners…hoping to repeat the experience, but maybe at different locations.”

The experience came full circle during Homecoming 2025, when Gallagher, the Beck Center for the Arts and Grover/Trophy Music Group presented the Music Therapy program with another generous gift, a 30-inch guitar for every student in the department.

“This opportunity made possible by the First Year Experience Grant has brought to light the amazing sense of community that we have within the OHIO Music Therapy program, and that our community extends beyond Athens through our connections within the field,” Boyle said.