This document focuses on background and performance practice of various musical styles encountered in Paquito D'Rivera's The Cape Cod Files. More specifically, the musical styles examined include: boogie-woogie, Argentine milonga, classical and popular Cuban music, American twelve-bar blues, contemporary atonal music, and Cuban danzón. A brief biography of Paquito D'Rivera is included to establish context of the composer's musical background. Each chapter examines one of the four movements and the musical styles found within that movement. A brief history of each musical style is provided to inform appropriate performance practice decisions.

Females make up the minority in professional euphonium playing and teaching roles in the USA. The purpose of this research is to unveil the reasons behind this imbalance and to discover potential impacts females experience as a minority in the field. Research methods included sending a questionnaire to professional female euphonium players and teachers to document the experiences of participants. A secondary purpose of this study is to further document the existence of past and present potential female euphonium role models. Through a discussion of possible origins of and reasons behind a perceived lack of female euphonium players, I am seeking ways to achieve greater parity by garnering a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by female euphonium players.