The dissertation consists of four recitals: three solo recitals and one lecture recital. The repertoire of all the programs contained both music written specifically for the trombone and transcriptions from various other instruments. The lecture recital, "J. s. Bach's Six Suites for Solo Violoncello, BWV 1007-1012? Their History and Problems of Transcription and Performance for the Trombone," was presented on June 20, 1983. The lecture was an attempt to illuminate the rationale and performance problems of transcribing the Bach 'cello suites to the modern tenor trombone with an F attachment and also to provide background information on the suites and the early solo emergence of the violoncello. The program included the performance of the Suite No. 2_ in d minor, BWV 1008, with the movements: Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Minuets I and II, and Gigue.

The dissertation consists of four recitals. Three solo recitals featured a variety of selected works for bass trombone and piano by traditional and contemporary composers. The lecture recital, entitled "The Trombone in German and Austrian Ensemble Sonatas of the Late Seventeenth Century," is a study which examines the role of the trombone, both as a solo and ensemble instrument, and the functions of the instrument in ensemble sonatas of the late seventeenth century. The trombone's use in instrumental ensembles was traced from the fifteenth century to the present. The program included selections by German composers Daniel Speer and Matthias Weckmann, and Austrian composers Autonio Bertali, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber.