Performance Studies - BA
The B.A. in Performance Studies offers an interdisciplinary, liberal arts approach to the the study of performance. Our degree is distinctive for its integration of music and theatre, and our Department is forward-looking in its curricular offerings. Our B.A. provides a foundation in critical reflection, analysis, and creative practice from which students can launch a variety of careers. In their core Performance Studies courses, B.A. Students are immersed in performance theory, learn the craft of creating live theatrical and musical performance, and cultivate essential research and writing skills to be successful citizens, scholars, and artists in the 21st century.
Four Pillars of the B.A. in Performance Studies
Performance as Research
In Performance Studies, we embrace the fact that live, embodied performance provides a unique way to know and understand the world. We value and champion such repertoires of knowledge alongside the many other ways of knowing represented in institutions of higher education. Students in our B.A. program learn to use performance as method for conducting research. In every class in our major, students perform: they stage plays and concerts, conduct ethnographic research, make films and podcasts, or present their scholarship to varied audiences. They do this to embrace the fact that a musician, an actor, a dancer, or performers of any stripe know the world differently by virtue of their performance practice. We train our B.A. students to translate that knowledge into a format with which it can be shared widely and effectively.
Global Performance Practices
The distance between College Station and Kuala Lumpur is no longer so great as it once may have been. We live in a globalized world and prepare our students to be global leaders. The B.A. in Performance Studies at Texas A&M University draws on the truly global expertise of our Department’s research faculty--experts in the expressive cultures of East and South Asia, West Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and beyond. We bring artists from around the world to campus to work with our students, and we equip our students with the tools they need to be responsible global citizens.
Performance and Technology
The B.A. in Performance Studies at Texas A&M also emphasizes the intersection of performance and technology. We equip students both to take advantage of technological advances in their creative and professional lives, and to recognize the risks and rewards ongoing technology progress can provide to our communities. Students in our department take courses such as Electronic Composition and Intermedia Performance from faculty who study the latest developments in digital music-making, virtual reality filmmaking, acoustic surveillance and data doubles, and so on. Our Performance and Technology pillar takes advantage of our material resources in the Liberal Arts and Humanities building, and prepares students for life in the 21st century.
Performing Publics
Our courses emphasize the use of performance to create and circulate knowledge for and within a variety of communities; a dramaturgical focus on the publics for which we perform. Students in our B.A. program can take classes that study arts administration and work with non-profit organizations, that investigate performance in public institutions as varied as the City Council and the United Nations, and that focus on performance practices in museums, journalism, and so on. Our students learn to become informed and responsible citizens, and to use performance to serve their communities and the wider world.
| First Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Semester Credit Hours | |
| PERF 101 | Introduction to Performance Studies | 3 |
| American history | 3 | |
| Creative arts | 3 | |
| Foreign language 1 | 4 | |
| General elective 2 | 3 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 16 | |
| Spring | ||
| ENGL 104 | Composition and Rhetoric | 3 |
| Foreign language 1 | 4 | |
| Mathematics | 3 | |
| Social and behavioral sciences | 3 | |
| Performance studies elective 3 | 3 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 16 | |
| Second Year | ||
| Fall | ||
| PERF 301 | Performance in World Cultures | 3 |
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Public Speaking | ||
| Communication for Technical Professions | ||
| Argumentation and Debate | ||
| Writing about Literature | ||
| Technical and Business Writing | ||
| Foreign language 1 | 3 | |
| Government/Political science | 3 | |
| General elective 2 | 3 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 | |
| Spring | ||
| Foreign language 1 | 3 | |
| Government/Political science | 3 | |
| Life and physical sciences | 3 | |
| Performance studies elective 3 | 3 | |
| General elective 2 | 3 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 | |
| Third Year | ||
| Fall | ||
| American history | 3 | |
| Life and physical sciences | 3 | |
| Mathematics | 3 | |
| Literature directed elective | 3 | |
| Performance studies seminar 4 | 3 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 | |
| Spring | ||
| PERF 303 | Creating Performance | 3 |
| Language, philosophy and culture | 3 | |
| Life and physical sciences | 3 | |
| Performance studies seminar 4 | 3 | |
| General elective 2 | 3 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 | |
| Fourth Year | ||
| Fall | ||
| Language, philosophy and culture or creative arts | 3 | |
| Social and behavioral sciences | 3 | |
| Performance studies elective 3 | 3 | |
| Performance studies seminar 4 | 3 | |
| General elective 2 | 3 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 15 | |
| Spring | ||
| PERF 481 | Capstone Seminar: Performance as Research | 3 |
| Literature directed elective | 3 | |
| Performance studies elective 3 | 3 | |
| General elective 2 | 3 | |
| General elective 2 | 1 | |
| Semester Credit Hours | 13 | |
| Total Semester Credit Hours | 120 | |
Graduation requirements include 3 hours of International and Cultural Diversity courses and 3 hours of Cultural Discourse courses. A course satisfying a Core category, a college/department requirement, or a free elective can be used to satisfy this requirement. The required 6 hours may be met by courses satisfying other areas of a degree program. See your academic advisor for further information.
General Degree Requirements:
Minimum 2.0 GPA overall and a minimum 2.0 GPA in major coursework.
A grade of C or higher is required in all coursework within the major.
18 hours of major coursework completed at Texas A&M.
Complete 36 hours of upper division (300-400 level) hours in residence, 12 hours of which must be completed in major coursework.
Complete two PERF courses formally designated as writing or communication intensive. At least one course must be completed with the writing intensive designation.