Canadian Music Links

CultureCanada.gc.ca, a useful set of Canadian music links maintained by the Government of Canada
Canadian Heritage / Patrimoine canadien - Music, a briefer set of music or music-related links
National Anthem: O Canada, from the federal government of Canada; Senate inquiry into the National Anthem, 2001

Upcoming Conferences

• American Musicological Society, annual meeting, Nashville, Tn.: 6-9 November 2008

Publications Available Online

• British Columbia Sheet Music, from the University of British Columbia Music Library
• Canadian Music Periodical Index, a searchable database of articles dating from the late-19th century to the present day
• Directory of Music Collections in Canada, compiled by Carol Ohlers; a list of who's got what
• The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, 1610 to 1791, an electronic, searchable version of all 71 volumes of this important reference source
• Music Education Resource Base / Canadian Music Index, a bibliographic database on music and music education, 1956 on
• Music of Canada, from wordIQ.com
• Northern Journey Online, an online emanation growing out of Gene Wilburn's two books, Northern Journey and Northern Journey 2, fine annotated discographies of Canadian folk music.
• Sheet Music from Canada's Past, from the Library and Archives of Canada
• Theses Canada Portal, from the Library and Archives of Canada
• UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations, online access to citations and abstracts; titles published since 1997 are available in PDF digital format

• HTML Files
• "Canada’s Musical Heritage and the World Wide Web: The NLC Music Division at 30" by S. Timothy Maloney, from Bulletin [National Library of Canada] vol. 33, no. 3 (May/June 2001)
• "Eternal Recurrence: Aspects of Melody in the Orchestral Music of Claude Vivier" by Janette Tilley, from Discourses in Music, vol. 2, no. 1 (Fall 2000)
• Sounding Places with Hildegard Westerkamp by Andra McCartney, developed from a York University PhD thesis and posted to the Elecrontic Music Foundation web site
• The String Quartet in Canada by Robin Elliott, a PhD thesis in musicology completed at the University of Toronto in 1990; the thesis covers string quartet ensembles from the 18th to 20th centuries, and string quartet compositions from 1875 to 1990
• "The Wind Quintet in Canada: Legacy and Promise" by Drew Stephen, from Discourses in Music, vol. 4, no. 2 (Spring 2003)
• PDF Files
• Murray Adaskin: An Annotated Catalogue of His Music by Gordana Lazarevich and Robyn Cathcart (Victoria, BC: Dolce, 2002) - this PDF file has been made available by the Library and Archives of Canada; 104 pages total
• "Tin Cans and Machinery: Saving the Sagas and Other Stuff" by Lynda Jessup (Department of Art, Queen's University); revised version of an article originally published in Visual Anthropology vol. 12 (pp. 49-86) on the 1928 Canadian film Saving the Sagas about Marius Barbeau; 54 pages

Bibliographies Available Online

• Abstracts of York University Master's Theses in Music, 1975-1993; by Jay Rahn from the Canadian Journal for Traditional Music (1997)
• Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index, an extensive tune index by Alan Snyder of commercially released Cape Breton fiddle music: 261 recordings, 4,178 tunes as of Jan. 2009
• The Fiddler's Companion, an extensive tune index and bibliography relating to North American and British Isles fiddle tunes, hosted by Ceolas, the largest online collection of information on Celtic music
• Index to the CAML Newsletter / Nouvelles de l'ACBM, Volumes 1-28 by Kathleen McMorrow (Faculty of Music Library, University of Toronto); covers vol. 1, no. 1 (May 1972) to vol. 28, no. 3 (December 2000); 23 pages
• Répertoire des analyses d'oeuvres de compositeurs québécois, by Suzanne Alepin; 130 references for over 60 Quebec composers, from Circuit (2000)
• R. Murray Schafer: Bibliographie sélective des articles et des ouvrages musicologiques (a PDF file), by Jonathan Goldman (6 pages) from Circuit (2000)

Canadian Music and Musicians

• Mychael Danna, film composer to Atom Egoyan, and also Ang Lee (The Ice Storm, The Hulk), Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Kama Sutra), Denzil Washington (The Antwone Fisher Story) and others.
• Glenn Gould Archive, developed by Library and Archives Canada, the official repository for the archives of Glenn Gould; contains archival papers and tapes, bibliographies and databases, full text of selected articles, links to other Gould sites, etc.
• Christos Hatzis, born in Greece, and since 1982 resident in Canada; his work is inspired by "cultural convergence," the cross-fertilization that occurs when different musical cultures come into contact
• Jazz Elements, information on jazz and blues music, with a focus on the Canadian scene.
• Native Drums, "an exciting and innovative website devoted to the rich heritage of First Nations culture and music in Canada."
• Hank Snow and the Hank Snow Country Music Centre, in Liverpool, Nova Scotia (halfway between Yarmouth and Halifax).
• Mary Travers, known as "La Bolduc", (b. 1894, d. 1941) folksinger and songwriter from Quebec who laid the foundations for the modern chansonnière (singer-songwriter). Another web site about her is available from The Virtual Grammophone.
• Shania Twain, the official web site

Canadian Music Journals Available Online

• CAML Review [Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres], selected reviews from vol. 27, no. 1 (April 1999) onwards; note also the excellent Index to Vols. 1-28 (a PDF file) by Kathleen McMorrow.
• Canadian Journal for Traditional Music, "the annual scholarly publication (refereed) of The Canadian Society for Traditional Music," with the complete text of the complete run from vol. 1 (1973) onwards
• Circuit, "Cette « revue nord-américaine de musique du XXe siècle » est dénommée CIRCUIT en hommage à Serge Garant (1929-1986), figure majeure de la musique au Québec et compositeur de trois oeuvres portant ce titre"; vol. 10, no. 1 (1999) onwards
• Discourses in Music, a tri-annual journal "dedicated to developing and maintaining a dialogue on musical and aesthetic matters among graduate music students across Canada."
• Institute for Canadian Music Newsletter, "promoting, supporting, and producing scholarship in all areas of Canadian music studies." The online edition of the newsletter is available approximately six months after the print edition.
• La Scena Musicale Online, "published by a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of classical music"; previous issues are archived by the NLC in HTML and PDF format in its Electronic Collection
• musicworks, "Published tri-annually, in a magazine-and-CD format, musicworks has provided readers worldwide with artists' perspectives on the exploration of new and possible music and sound for more than twenty years."
• WholeNote, "Toronto's Classical and Post-Classical Music Scene" with selected articles from March 1999 (vol. 4, no. 6) onwards
• Words & Music, "Words & Music magazine is published four times a year and showcases news, events, issues and profiles that are important to [SOCAN - Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada] members." October 2000 onwards

Organizations - Cultural

• ADISQ - Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo; "Fondée en 1978 pour défendre les intérêts de ses membres et favoriser le développement de l'industrie de la musique au Québec."
• Baobob Tree in Ottawa, bringing together people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, to celebrate the arts and humanity; founded by Kathy Armstrong and inspired by Kwasi Dunyo.
• Bibliothèque nationale du Québec - Livres et partitions musicales; "The Bibliothèque nationale du Québec (BNQ) and the Grande bibliothèque du Québec (GBQ) have become one and the same institution according to a harmonious plan that was rigorously adhered to."
• Canada Council for the Arts; the music section of the arts granting body, which provides support for the development of professionals working in the Canadian music community.
• Canadian Association for Cultural Studies; "It is important to establish that in our formulation of cultural studies, which is carried out within the geographical space of Canada, that the concepts of 'Canada' and 'Canadian' are not assumed, but rather questioned."
• Canadian Conference of the Arts; "Canada's oldest and largest arts advocacy group. Founded in 1945 by the leading artists of the day, the CCA was created to impress upon governments and the general public the importance of the arts and cultural industries in Canadian society."
• Folk Alliance Canada; "official Canadian branch of the North American Folk Music & Dance Alliance."
• Folklore Studies Association of Canada; "The Folklore Studies Association of Canada (FSAC) is an educational non-profit Association founded in June 1976 for the purpose of increasing education and research in the field of folklore studies in all its aspects."
• National Film Board of Canada; links to NFB films about music, in 24 categories
• Ontario Council of Folk Festivals, which "exists to foster and promote traditional, contemporary and multicultural folk music and related arts."
• The Ottawa Folklore Centre, located at 1111 Bank Street in Ottawa, with a music store, a publishing operation, and in general a strong music mandate.
• The Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture from the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research at Gabriel Dumont College, affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan

Organizations - Musical

• Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, initiated in 2006.
• Atlantic Canadian Music dot com, "a wholly owned Atlantic Canadian company that specializes is distributing via the web only a full range of Independent Atlantic Canadian music."
• Canadian Antique Phonograph Society; interests: "all aspects of sound recording and its history: phonographs and gramophones, sound recordings of historic importance, ephemera and related memorabilia. There is particular emphasis placed on the history of recorded sound in Canada."
• Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres; "We are the professional association for librarians, archivists, and researchers in the field of music and we [are] interested in the organization and collection, preservation and study of music, particularly music in Canada."
• Canadian Music Centre; "The Centre’s mission is to promote the works of its Associate Composers, to encourage the performance and appreciation of Canadian music and to make it available throughout Canada and around the world."
• Canadian Music Creators Coalition, "a growing coalition of Canadian music creators who share the common goal of having our voices heard about the laws and policies that affect our livelihoods."
• Canadian Music Educators Association; "To encourage and guide the development and delivery of quality music education programs within a balanced curriculum; To encourage the confident and competent teaching of music through the awakening and nurturing of the creative spirit."
• Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame; "dedicated to honouring the outstanding accomplishments of Canadian popular music songwriters and those who have contributed significantly to their legacy."
• Canadian University Music Society; "to stimulate musical research, performance, composition, and pedagogy in Canadian universities ... to maintain and strengthen the position of music study in Canadian universities; and to advise on new university programs and monitor exisiting programs."
• Conseil québécois de la musique; "L'Association des organismes musicaux du Québec (AOMQ), fondée le 19 novembre 1987, est devenue le Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM) le 8 juillet 1993 [et] regroupe les organismes et individus professionnels dans le domaine de la musique dite de concert."
• International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) - Canada; IASPM, founded in 1981, has over 500 members in 36 countries. The Canadian branch sponsors a conference every year.
• McKenzie College, Sydney, Nova Scotia, offering Applied Music Technology and Digital Media Design programs, each 10 months long, beginning in September 2004.
• National Library of Canada, Music Division; "the largest and most significant collection of musical Canadiana in existence ... [providing] expert music reference and research support to hundreds of musicians, scholars, film-makers and ordinary citizens from across Canada and all over the world."
• Research Cenre for the Study of Music, Media and Place (MMaP); founded in 2003 at Memorial University of Newfoundland, conducting and fostering research and publishing a Newsletter.
• La Société québécoise de recherche en musique (SQRM); "Fondée en 1980, la SQRM est un organisme sans but lucratif qui a pour objectif de favoriser le développement, la promotion, le soutien, la diffusion et la conservation de la recherche en musique au Québec."
• Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada; "SOCAN is the Canadian copyright collective for the public performance of musical works. We administer the performing rights of our members and those of affiliated international societies by licensing the use of their music in Canada."
• Songwriters Association of Canada; "the only national arts service organization dedicated exclusively to Canadian composers, lyricists and songwriters."

General Canadiana

• Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada: "We represent 93 public and private not-for-profit universities and university-degree level colleges across Canada."
• Canada's Digital Collections: "Hundreds of Web sites about Canada produced by thousands of young Canadians. This Web site is one of the richest, most significant sources of Canadian content on the Internet." It hosts the Historical Anthology of Canadian Music, among other things.
• Canadian Historical Portraits, from the City of Montreal Archives.
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography: The DCB is an ongoing joint project of the University of Toronto and Université Laval. Fourteen volumes have appeared in print to date, covering persons who died between 1000 and 1920. In 2003, a licensing agreement was reached between the Department of Canadian Heritage and the two universities to make the Dictionary of Canadian Biography available on the Internet. Library and Archives Canada then became responsible for putting the Dictionary of Canadian Biography into its online form, achieved in October 2003.
• Diversity Gateway from the Canadian Policy Research Network.
• Early Canadiana Online: "a digital library providing access to over 1,279,000 pages of Canada's printed heritage" from the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (now known as Canadiana.org).
• Encyclopedia of British Columbia On-Line Edition: "The complete encyclopedia, along with a variety of readers' resources and other features", subscription: $19.95/yr; free 30-day trial available
• Historica, including The Canadian Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada: "Historica is a foundation whose mandate is to provide Canadians with a deeper understanding of their history and its importance in shaping their future."
• Institute of Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa: "We are striving to explore new questions in innovative ways in order both to learn more about Canada and to contribute to better understandings of the key issues faced internationally"
• International Council for Canadian Studies: "A federation of twenty national and multi-national Canadian Studies associations ... Its mandate is to promote and support research, education and publications in all fields of Canadian Studies and in all countries."
• Lancette Journal of the Arts: "reviews and information about the arts in Canada and topics related to Canadian and world affairs."
• McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, founded in 1995; Dr. Antonia Maioni became the MISC's second director on July 1, 2001.
• Montreal Review of Books: mRb for short, published twice a year by the Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec.
• National Historic Sites of Canada, a division of Parks Canada: "The national historic sites component of Parks Canada is responsible for Canada's program of historical commemoration, which recognizes nationally significant places, persons and events."
• Studies in Canadian Literature: vol. 1, no. 1 (1976) onwards. "A biannual, bilingual peer-reviewed journal devoted to the study of Canadian literature in English and French, and published at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton."

Slightly Off the Beaten Track

• "Canadian Scat-Singing," an article by University of Toronto Bookstore supremo and noted Canadian humorist Nick Pashley, including a list of suggestions for alternative Canadian national anthems.
• The CanCon Hall of Shame, from the Craptastic web site; "critiquing what passed as Canadian musical entertainment in the latter part of the 20th Century" from Mr. Cranky - see the mud fly!
• Glenn Gould's Grave, from Find A Grave, "a comprehensive 'virtual cemetery' where loved ones can visit graves, leave flowers, etc. when they cannot do so in real life due to geography, finances and other circumstances."
• The Porcupine Awards: "Awards for artists of folk oriented musics and other vistas of Canadian music, and those who help sustain them by giving them jobs or recording contracts when they could be making a lot more money elsewhere."
• Six String Nation: "A Journey Through the Musical Soul of Canada," being a project to build a guitar using materials from every part of Canada. They already have Pierre Trudeau's canoe, part of the hull of the Bluenose II, some wood from Canada's first church - etc.