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The Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts will add a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Performance degree starting in the fall semester. The major was recently approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The new major joins the school’s existing majors in Dance Science; Performance and Visual Studies; and Visualization. The school recently added a new Theatre major, which is also beginning in the fall.
Andrea Edwards is an instructional professor and collaborative pianist who also holds the position of acting academic program director for Music. She said music degrees often fall into a Bachelor of Arts category, which she described as a broad overview of music, or a Bachelor of Music standalone degree that is more traditional and housed in a school of music.
This Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is a hybrid, forward-looking degree that is the first of its kind in Texas, and one of few in the country, Edwards said. It is designed to provide a foundational knowledge in music theory, history and performance, while also emphasizing the school’s focus on interdisciplinary work and emerging technologies.
“We’re in a unique school, and within that unique school we have created a unique degree,” Edwards said. “We provide the foundational knowledge that every student needs, but we also have courses in the curriculum like Music and Film; Music and Dance; Music and Theatre. It’s looking at those intersections of art forms that we have in close proximity. They’re not housed in a different part of campus. Therefore, we’re able to collaborate more easily and draw influences from those disciplines.
“These are the things that are going to be required for our students in the workplace. To think we’re going to go out and just play piano in a room on our own may happen for some people — but not for many. The world of performance has changed, and we must change with it.”
The 120-credit hour major includes 42 hours in general education core curriculum courses, 36 hours in required major courses, 24 in prescribed electives and 18 in general electives. The electives allow the students to choose a minor without going over 120 credit hours, Edwards said.
Required Courses
Students in the Music Performance major will take the two-credit courses Music Theory I, II and III, each with a corresponding one-credit Musicianship course taken concurrently. The latter acts as the lab class for the former, Edwards said.
Music Theory focuses on writing, analyzing and interpreting music, she said, along with learning technical and theoretical language. Students will apply those concepts in the musicianship course through rhythmic exercises, singing, conducting, embodiment and group performance.
The Introduction to InterArts Performance course examines the creative collaboration among the arts across various spectrums, Edwards said.
“If we’re developing a project in collaboration with dance, for example, where do the collaboration points meet, and how do we manipulate that?” she said. “This will be performance-based, where we will have people working with artists from other disciplines to create a performative project.”
A 300-level course titled Music Entrepreneurship tackles the business of making music, to include curating, promoting and publicizing events; writing grants and technical riders; and working with theatres.
The Music Performance Project course is designed to be a collaboration with a visiting artist. Through campus visits or online collaborations, artists will work with students to give them hands-on experiences that culminate with a public performance.
Edwards pointed to a spring collaboration between the Texas A&M Century Singers and the renowned a cappella choir Chanticleer. The students worked on individual pieces during the semester, had a workshop with Chanticleer the day before the performance and then performed those pieces together at the concert. The event was co-sponsored by Friends of Chamber Music and the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.
“It’s great for building community involvement, because it draws in people from places that you would otherwise not have seen,” Edwards said. “That was a significant experience for those students. They raved about it afterward.”
Seniors in the new major will take a Music Performance Studio course in the first semester of their senior year, and a Music Performance Capstone course will follow it. The former allows time for students to prepare for the capstone recital, including choosing the literature, finding collaborators, developing marketing materials and researching what will go in the program notes.
“They get everything set up so that in the semester of the performance, that is the focus,” Edwards said. “The actual performance is where the energy goes.”
Prescribed Electives
Students will take six hours of individual performance instruction courses, which are private lessons grouped by families: guitar, piano, string, woodwind, brass, percussion and electronic, in addition to vocal performance. Students will have the flexibility to take all six credit hours with one instrument or family, or “dance around” with other options, Edwards said.
Composition is also regarded as performance in these courses. Students have one-on-one lessons in which they compose original music, creating works that other students can then perform, Edwards said.
“Being a composer is their instrument,” Edwards said. “That’s where the creative research is done. What are the techniques of composition? How is a piece put together, what is the structure and how do we develop artistic expression within that process? For example, how do I incorporate steel pan, or shakuhachi, or put a jazz influence on a classical composition?”
Six hours will come through ensemble performance courses. This includes the long-running Small Ensembles course, which incorporates performance groups Maroon Steel and Trombone Choir. The requirement also expands to connect with students in the Texas A&M Department of Music Activities. Courses titled University Concert Bands, Jazz Ensemble, University Orchestras and Choir are available, and students who are also in the Corps of Cadets are eligible to take the Marching Band course, which is tied to the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band.
Edwards described the ensemble performance requirement as mutually beneficial for the school and for Music Activities.
“It gives students within the Music Performance major the opportunity to work in a really large ensemble like an orchestra or a choir,” she said. “For Music Activities, it allows students to earn credits for the work they’re doing. And it will bring students to Music Activities, so they get to develop their program and have more trained musicians in their ranks, which is always good when you’re talking about ensembles of this size.”
Students will choose one music technology course, with options including Sonic Design; Music and Technology; and Recording and the Producer. A Music Technology minor debuted in fall 2023.
A topics in music requirement offers a wide assortment of instruction. Students will choose two classes from choices that include genre history (rock, jazz, electronic, country); Global Hip Hop; Guitar Heroes; Popular Musics in the African Diaspora; Japanese Traditional Performing Arts; and Topics in Ethnomusicology. It also includes interdisciplinary courses that connect to other areas within the school, including Music and Video Games; Music and Dance; Music and Visual Art; Music and Film; and Music and Theatre.
‘Off The Charts’
The major will begin with transfer and change-of-major students starting in the fall. The spring semester will bring the full experience, including auditions for incoming students. Edwards said faculty members will be looking for student proficiency on instruments and composition, along with “a state of readiness to face the level of inquiry, research and dedication it takes to be an expert in your field.”
Students who complete the Music Performance major will have a wide variety of potential career paths, Edwards said, including working in orchestras, museums, education, music technology, research, event promotion, arts administration and artist management.
“It could be anything,” she said. “It’s going to be determined by what each student brings to the table. It’s what I love about it. We’re going to allow people to choose their voice and find their career path.”
Edwards describes her anticipation for the major’s debut as “off the charts.”
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “I’m going to have to be patient because students have to build their foundational material. Once they’ve got that, once they know the rules that this music business works in, that’s when they can start to break the rules. And that’s when it gets exciting. Because people do things that will just astound you over and over again.
“I can’t overstate how excited I am about it. I love student performance. I love seeing that ‘Aha’ moment when something becomes live. And all of a sudden, it’s got an energy of its own. I can’t wait to see that happen.”
By Rob Clark, Texas A&M University School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts
