Music of Canada - Quiz
Music of Canada
  • 1. How were Canadian songwriters' works published prior to the development of the gramophone?
A) As digital audio files on the internet
B) On wax cylinders distributed globally
C) Exclusively through international broadcasts
D) As sheet music or in periodicals in local newspapers
  • 2. Which international performers made most of the recordings purchased by Canadians in the early days of the gramophone?
A) Italian and Spanish performers
B) French and German performers
C) Australian and Russian performers
D) American and British performers
  • 3. Who was among the first Black Canadian composers during the early years of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers?
A) Murray Adaskin
B) Emile Berliner
C) William Marion Cook
D) Robert Nathaniel Dett
  • 4. Where did Robert Nathaniel Dett perform as a pianist and choir director?
A) Carnegie Hall and the Boston Symphony Hall
B) Studio Victor and the RCA Victor factory
C) The Montreal Gazette and Toronto Empire
D) The University of Saskatchewan
  • 5. What served as the catalyst for the writing and recording of large numbers of Canadian-written popular songs during the early 20th century?
A) The establishment of the Compo Company
B) The invention of the gramophone
C) Canada's involvement in the First World War
D) The creation of CFCF radio station
  • 6. What did the military produce during World War I in addition to utilitarian bugle calls?
A) French language radio broadcasts
B) Official music such as regimental marches and songs
C) Sheet music published by The Montreal Gazette
D) Jazz records and modern symphonies
  • 7. What did soldiers' own musical repertoire largely consist of during World War I?
A) Strictly classical chamber music pieces
B) Official regimental marches
C) New, often ribald, lyrics to older tunes
D) Traditional Indigenous chants
  • 8. What was the name of Canada's first independent record label?
A) Compo Company
B) Musée des ondes Emile Berliner
C) RCA Victor
D) Okeh Records
  • 9. Where was the Compo Company pressing plant built in 1918?
A) Toronto, Ontario
B) Boston, Massachusetts
C) Montreal, Quebec
D) Lachine, Quebec
  • 10. Which American independent record company was served by the Compo Company for distributing records in Canada?
A) RCA Victor
B) Okeh Records
C) Columbia Records
D) The Montreal Gazette
  • 11. What development in the 1920s allowed Canadian songwriters to contribute some of the most famous popular music of the early 20th century?
A) Canada's first radio stations
B) The formation of the Canadian Performing Rights Society
C) The opening of Carnegie Hall
D) The invention of the gramophone
  • 12. What was Canada's first commercial radio station?
A) XWA
B) Compo
C) CFCF
D) CKAC
  • 13. In what year did CFCF begin broadcasting regularly scheduled programming in Montreal?
A) 1925
B) 1922
C) 1920
D) 1918
  • 14. What was Canada's first French language radio station, established in 1922?
A) CKAC
B) XWA
C) CAPAC
D) CFCF
  • 15. How many radio stations were there in Canada by 1923?
A) 34
B) 12
C) 50
D) 100
  • 16. With what musical genre was the rapid proliferation of radio stations associated?
A) Chamber music
B) Jazz
C) Regimental marches
D) Classical music
  • 17. How was jazz associated during the 1920s?
A) Religious and solemn
B) Strictly military and utilitarian
C) All things modern, sophisticated, and also decadent
D) Traditional, rural, and conservative
  • 18. When was the Canadian Performing Rights Society formed?
A) 1918
B) 1923
C) 1925
D) 1920
  • 19. What did the Canadian Performing Rights Society eventually become known as?
A) Compo Company Pressing Plant
B) Musée des ondes Emile Berliner
C) Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC)
D) American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
  • 20. Who was the Toronto-born violinist, composer, conductor, and teacher at the University of Saskatchewan?
A) Robert Nathaniel Dett
B) William Marion Cook
C) Murray Adaskin
D) Emile Berliner
  • 21. With which orchestra was Murray Adaskin an orchestral and chamber musician from 1923 to 1936?
A) Montreal Gazette Orchestra
B) New York syncopated Orchestra
C) Boston Symphony
D) Toronto Symphony Orchestra
  • 22. What historic academic position did Murray Adaskin hold at the University of Saskatchewan?
A) First director of the French language radio station
B) First head of the gramophone department
C) First composer-in-residence in Canada
D) First president of CAPAC
  • 23. Where was Canada's first recording studio featuring polycylindrical walls located?
A) Montreal, Quebec
B) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
C) Toronto, Ontario
D) Lachine, Quebec
  • 24. What was the purpose of the polycylindrical walls in Studio Victor?
A) To store flat disks and gramophones
B) To allow the sounds to reflect in all directions
C) To house the pressing plant for Okeh Records
D) To block out all outside radio interference
  • 25. Which languages were used by artists recording at Studio Victor?
A) English and Spanish
B) French and German
C) Both English and French
D) English only
  • 26. What museum is currently housed in the former RCA Victor factory in Montreal?
A) The National Radio and Gramophone Archives
B) The Canadian Music Hall of Fame
C) Musée des ondes Emile Berliner
D) The Montreal Gazette Museum of Sound
  • 27. What is the primary focus of the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner?
A) The work of Berliner, mostly gramophones, flat disks, radios, and sound waves
B) Early sheet music published in local newspapers
C) The history of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
D) World War I military bugle calls and regimental marches
  • 28. What was the title of the first volume of music printed in Canada in 1800?
A) The Merry Bells of England
B) Graduel romain
C) Union Harmony
D) The Canadian Boat Song
  • 29. Which volume of music followed the 'Graduel romain' as an early printed Canadian music book in 1801?
A) La Minerve
B) The Maple Leaf Forever
C) Union Harmony
D) Literary Garland
  • 30. Who composed the poem titled 'A Canadian Boat Song' during a visit to Canada in 1804?
A) Thomas Moore
B) Calixa Lavallée
C) George Heriot
D) Alexander Muir
  • 31. Who was the Scottish traveler and artist who noted in 1807 that Canadian inhabitants were remarkably fond of dancing?
A) Thomas Moore
B) Samuel Nordheimer
C) Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann
D) George Heriot
  • 32. What was the name of the musical society established in Québec in 1820?
A) Harmonic Society
B) Children of Peace
C) Société Ste-Cécile
D) New Union Singing Society
  • 33. What was the name of the student orchestra organized at the Séminaire de Québec in 1833?
A) New Union Singing Society
B) Union Harmony
C) Harmonic Society
D) Société Ste-Cécile
  • 34. In which newspaper did the first appearance of a piece of music in a Canadian newspaper or magazine occur on September 19, 1831?
A) Graduel romain
B) Literary Garland
C) Union Harmony
D) La Minerve
  • 35. Who composed the song 'The Merry Bells of England' published in Bytown in 1840?
A) Robert S. Ambrose
B) J. F. Lehmann
C) Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier
D) Calixa Lavallée
  • 36. In which literary magazine was 'The Merry Bells of England' published by John Lovell?
A) Literary Garland
B) La Minerve
C) Graduel romain
D) Union Harmony
  • 37. Who opened a music store in Toronto in 1844 selling pianos and publishing engraved sheet music?
A) Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann
B) Samuel Nordheimer
C) George Heriot
D) Thomas Moore
  • 38. Which song served for many years as an unofficial Canadian national anthem and was initially published exclusively by Samuel Nordheimer's store?
A) The Maple Leaf Forever
B) O Canada
C) One Sweetly Solemn Thought
D) The Canadian Boat Song
  • 39. Who wrote the song 'The Maple Leaf Forever'?
A) Alexander Muir
B) Robert S. Ambrose
C) Calixa Lavallée
D) J. F. Lehmann
  • 40. What type of institutions opened their doors in the 1870s, providing string, woodwind, and brass faculty?
A) Conservatories
B) Universities
C) Seminaries
D) Music stores
  • 41. Who originally commissioned 'O Canada' for the 1880 St. Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony?
A) George Frederick Cameron
B) Théodore Robitaille
C) Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann
D) Adolphe-Basile Routhier
  • 42. Who composed the patriotic poem that served as the original text for 'O Canada'?
A) Adolphe-Basile Routhier
B) George Heriot
C) George Frederick Cameron
D) Thomas Moore
  • 43. Starting in what year was 'O Canada' translated into English?
A) 1891
B) 1880
C) 1867
D) 1906
  • 44. What is the title of the light opera composed in Kingston, Ontario, in 1889?
A) The Merry Bells of England
B) One Sweetly Solemn Thought
C) Union Harmony
D) Leo, the Royal Cadet
  • 45. Who wrote the music for the light opera 'Leo, the Royal Cadet'?
A) Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann
B) Calixa Lavallée
C) Alexander Muir
D) Robert S. Ambrose
  • 46. Who wrote the libretto for the light opera 'Leo, the Royal Cadet'?
A) Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier
B) Thomas Moore
C) George Frederick Cameron
D) George Heriot
  • 47. When did French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrive and establish the first permanent French settlements?
A) 1676
B) 1880
C) 1605
D) 1812
  • 48. What rank does the Canadian music industry hold in the world?
A) Tenth-largest
B) Fourth-largest
C) Sixth-largest
D) First-largest
  • 49. Which organization regulates music broadcasting in Canada?
A) CBC
B) CRTC
C) Canada Music Fund
D) CARAS
  • 50. What are Canada's music industry awards called?
A) Juno Awards
B) Grammy Awards
C) Canadian Music Awards
D) Maple Leaf Awards
  • 51. In what year were the Juno Awards first awarded?
A) 1880
B) 1812
C) 1976
D) 1970
  • 52. When was the Canadian Music Hall of Fame established?
A) 1805
B) 1906
C) 1976
D) 1970
  • 53. What is the earliest work of patriotic music in Canada?
A) O Canada
B) The Bold Canadian
C) God Save the Queen
D) Maple Leaf Forever
  • 54. In what year was 'The Bold Canadian' written?
A) 1812
B) 1880
C) 1605
D) 1906
  • 55. For what event was 'O Canada' originally commissioned?
A) 1608 Port Royal settlement
B) 1880 St. Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony
C) 1812 Confederation celebration
D) 1976 Hall of Fame opening
  • 56. In what year was 'O Canada' officially adopted as the national anthem?
A) 1970
B) 1906
C) 1880
D) 1980
  • 57. What vocal technique is widely popular in Indigenous Canadian music?
A) Chanting
B) Falsetto harmonizing
C) Operatic singing
D) Yodeling
  • 58. What material were woodland area horns made of by Indigenous peoples?
A) Gourds
B) Birchbark
C) Animal hides
D) Bone
  • 59. Who collected the earliest extant transcriptions of songs from the Americas in 1606–1607?
A) Calixa Lavallée
B) Samuel de Champlain
C) Théodore Robitaille
D) Marc Lescarbot
  • 60. Whose songs were collected in the earliest extant transcriptions of songs from the Americas?
A) Marc Lescarbot
B) Henri Membertou
C) Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier
D) Samuel de Champlain
  • 61. What was the title of Henri Membertou within his tribe?
A) Sakmow (Grand Chief)
B) Explorer
C) Lieutenant Governor
D) Poet and Judge
  • 62. How many songs of Henri Membertou were collected in the earliest extant transcriptions?
A) Three
B) Five
C) One
D) Ten
  • 63. What was imported for the Jesuits' Québec chapel in 1657?
A) An organ
B) A harpsichord
C) A set of brass bells
D) A collection of violins
  • 64. When was the Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral built?
A) 1647
B) 1657
C) 1639
D) 1667
  • 65. What is the site of the first documented choir in Canada?
A) The Ursuline Convent
B) The Jesuit chapel in Québec
C) Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal
D) Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral
  • 66. Who gave the first formal ball in New France on 4 February 1667?
A) Charles-Amador Martin
B) Louis-Théandre Chartier de Lotbinière
C) René Ménard
D) Louis Jolliet
  • 67. Who is recorded as one of the first classically trained practicing musicians in New France?
A) Louis Jolliet
B) Louis-Théandre Chartier de Lotbinière
C) Charles-Amador Martin
D) René Ménard
  • 68. Who gave concerts on the Champ de Mars around 1700?
A) Indigenous drum troupes
B) Military bands
C) The Ursuline choir
D) French opera singers
  • 69. Who composed motets around 1640?
A) René Ménard
B) Charles-Amador Martin
C) Louis-Théandre Chartier de Lotbinière
D) Louis Jolliet
  • 70. In which century was music composed in Canada's colonies and settlements, though very few popular named works survived?
A) 19th century
B) 20th century
C) 17th century
D) 18th century
  • 71. How were traditional songs and dances of the Habitants and Métis transmitted?
A) Printed books
B) Sheet music
C) Newspapers
D) Orally
  • 72. When did music publishing and printing begin in Canada?
A) 18th century
B) 20th century
C) 19th century
D) 17th century
  • 73. How many woodwind and brass instruments did regimental bands typically feature?
A) A dozen
B) Three dozen
C) Half a dozen
D) Two dozen
  • 74. After what decade did regular concerts become a part of the cultural landscape in Canada?
A) 1760s
B) 1750s
C) 1780s
D) 1770s
  • 75. By what year were subscription concerts established in Canada?
A) 1760
B) 1780
C) 1790
D) 1770
  • 76. Who wrote Canada's first two operas?
A) François Du Fault
B) Joseph Quesnel
C) Louis Hébert
D) Jean-Baptiste La Londe
  • 77. What was the instrument of favour for the lower class in 18th-century Canada?
A) The harpsichord
B) The flute
C) The lute
D) The fiddle
  • 78. Where were fiddlers a fixture as public entertainers?
A) Public drinking establishments
B) Cathedrals
C) Royal courts
D) Parliament buildings
  • 79. What anthem has been sung in Canada since British rule?
A) Rule, Britannia!
B) God Save the King/Queen
C) The Maple Leaf Forever
D) O Canada
  • 80. By what period were 'God Save the King/Queen' and 'O Canada' the country's two de facto national anthems?
A) Late 19th century
B) Early 18th century
C) Early 21st century
D) Mid-20th century
  • 81. Which of the following is an American name reflecting the diversity of swing dancing in Canada?
A) Jive
B) Tango
C) Foxtrot
D) Waltz
  • 82. Who was Canada's first big band star?
A) Guy Lombardo
B) Wilf Carter
C) Paul Anka
D) Guy Lombardo
E) Oscar Peterson
  • 83. In what year was the first Broadcasting Act passed by Parliament, creating the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission?
A) 1936
B) 1957
C) 1932
D) 1930
  • 84. When did the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation come into existence?
A) 1932
B) 1957
C) 1940
D) 1936
  • 85. Which country music star from Nova Scotia started hosting a radio show in Alberta by 1930?
A) Hank Snow
B) Wilf Carter
C) Stompin' Tom Connors
D) Tommy Hunter
  • 86. Which country music superstar signed with RCA Victor in 1936 and became a regular performer at the Grand Ole Opry?
A) Neil Young
B) Gordon Lightfoot
C) Wilf Carter
D) Hank Snow
  • 87. Who was the notable contralto singer from the 1940s who achieved international fame and opened doors for talented women?
A) Celine Dion
B) Portia White
C) Joni Mitchell
D) Anne Murray
  • 88. What debuted on May 27, 1957, under the name CHUM's Weekly Hit Parade?
A) The CHUM Chart
B) RPM Weekly
C) The Juno Awards
D) Billboard Top 100
  • 89. Which Pop vocal and Doo Wop groups became famous with covers of hits like 'Sh-Boom' and 'Earth Angel'?
A) The Four Lads
B) The Diamonds
C) The Crew-Cuts
D) The Beau-Marks
  • 90. Which vocal group performed covers of songs like 'Little Darlin' and 'The Stroll'?
A) The Beau-Marks
B) The Four Lads
C) The Crew-Cuts
D) The Diamonds
  • 91. Who was Canada's first rock and roll teen idol in 1958, famous for the hit song 'Diana'?
A) Ronnie Hawkins
B) Bryan Adams
C) Paul Anka
D) Neil Young
  • 92. Which US-born rockabilly pioneer moved to Canada in 1958 and became a key player in the Canadian blues and rock scene?
A) Ronnie Hawkins
B) Hank Snow
C) Gordon Lightfoot
D) Gil Evans
  • 93. What was the first Canadian rock band (as opposed to a vocal group) to score an international hit?
A) Steppenwolf
B) The Band
C) The Guess Who
D) The Beau-Marks
  • 94. What was the title of the Beau-Marks' international hit song in 1960?
A) Sh-Boom
B) Clap Your Hands
C) Diana
D) Little Darlin
  • 95. Who started RPM weekly trade magazine in February 1964?
A) Guy Lombardo
B) Walt Grealis
C) Paul Anka
D) Tommy Hunter
  • 96. In what year did regulations come into force requiring AM radio stations to devote 30 percent of their musical selections to Canadian content?
A) 1964
B) 1957
C) 1975
D) 1971
  • 97. Which progressive rock band became one of Canada's largest musical exports following the introduction of FM radio?
A) The Band
B) Steppenwolf
C) Rush
D) The Guess Who
  • 98. What television show helped keep country music popular in Canada during the 1970s?
A) The Ed Sullivan Show
B) MuchMusic
C) The Tommy Hunter show
D) Grand Ole Opry
  • 99. In what year was the first Juno Award ceremony held by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences?
A) 1971
B) 1964
C) 1975
D) 1984
  • 100. Which music video channel debuted in Canada in 1984, aiding the rise of Canadian hip hop and music marketing?
A) CHUM
B) MusiquePlus
C) RPM
D) MuchMusic
Created with That Quiz — a math test site for students of all grade levels.