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Chamber music performance. Early evidence of the cultivation of classical chamber music in Canada, mainly by amateur performers, both as an edifying leisure activity and in public concerts, dates from the period 1790-1820.

Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC). Organized by Kenneth Murphy to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Banff CA. The success of the first competition, held in April 1983, led to the decision to make it an ongoing triennial event.

Beau Dommage. Leading Quebec rock band of the mid-1970s, its name an old Quebec expression meaning 'most certainly' or 'why not'. As early as 1969, Michel Rivard, Pierre Bertrand, and Michel Hinton had formed an amateur group called La famille Casgrain.

In the mid-1980s there were approximately 6000 Bulgarian-Canadians, concentrated mainly in Ontario and specifically in Toronto. The most substantial influx from this Balkan country took place 1901-31.

British Columbia Association of Community Music Schools. Organized in 1987 to promote the establishment of and provide support for independent, non-profit conservatories and music schools.

A set of bells, large or small, located in or out of doors, played by hand or, if stationary, automatically. A simpler and older instrument than the carillon, chimes are used primarily for sounding melodies.

European country whose musicians have made a significant contribution to the musical life of Canada, especially in the field of instrumental music.

Boot Records Ltd. Country-music label formed in 1971 in Toronto by Stompin' Tom Connors and his manager Jury Krytiuk.

Besides fulfilling traditional military and ceremonial functions, brass instruments have accompanied services in churches, played a pioneer role in the development of ensemble playing, participated in orchestral performances, and simply displayed their own gleaming brand of virtuosity.

Atlantic Canadian Composers' Association/Association des Compositeurs Canadiens de l'Atlantique (ACCA). Organization formed in 1979, through the initiative of Clifford Ford, at that time on the faculty of Dalhousie University.

Battle music. A genre of descriptive program music originally known as Battaglia, popular from the 15th to the early 19th centuries. Beethoven's Wellington's Victory (1813) is a late example.

Canadian String Teachers Association. Organization dedicated to the improvement of string playing and teaching in Canada. It was formed in Regina in 1967 and its initial membership, from across Canada, numbered 120.

Composition competitions. Increasingly numerous after 1950, sponsored by governmental, professional, educational, and other organizations. Prizes may be in the form of medals, scholarships, commissions, performances and cash, or cash alone.

Country music. Popular music genre of southern US origin, also called 'hillbilly' (1920s and 1930s) and 'country and western' (1940s and 1950s). Its roots have been traced to the folksongs and ballads brought to North America by Anglo-Celtic immigrants and preserved especially in the southern USA.

British Columbia Association of Performing Arts Festivals (British Columbia Music Festival Association 1964-82). Provincial umbrella organization founded in 1964 (after informal discussions held as early as 1961) at a meeting of representatives of urban competition festivals.

British Columbia Registered Music Teachers' Association (BCRMTA). Founded in 1932 as the British Columbia Music Teachers' Federation, incorporating the Vancouver Music Teachers' Association (formed in 1920 with H. Roy Robertson as president) and other provincial groups.

Chorale de l'Université de Moncton 1963-87 (Chorale de l'Université Saint-Joseph, 1946-63). Male choir founded by Father Léandre Brault in 1946 in Memramcook, NB, with the aim of developing interest in Gregorian chant.

British Columbia Music Educators' Association (BCMEA). Organization founded in 1957 with Sherwood Robson as president.

National competitions whose aim has been to identify, encourage and present Canadian talent through the medium of CBC radio, and to provide opportunities for career development through cash awards, performance, broadcasting and recording.

CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) National Music Festival/Le Festival national de musique CIBC. Annual amateur competition, known until 1987 as The National Competitive Festival of Music.