Ciani recounted that she and several other employees were keen to learn more about using the synthesiser, so she approached Ed Buchla and asked if he would conduct tutorial sessions for them. Buchla initially agreed, but at the end of the first class he took Ciani aside and declared "We've decided that we don't want women in the class.", to which the horrified Ciani retorted, "But I'm the only woman in the class!" Her first paid job in composing was in 1969, producing for 10 Macy's Christmas advertisements. Around this time she worked on sound installations at galleries, exhibitions, and dance performances, composed at San Francisco Tape Music Center, which was housed at Mills College, composed for films, and recorded experimental pieces in her garage studio. Ciani also started a furniture company, but ceased after six months after two "unsaleable" designs, theft, fire, and vandalism. She realised that she was not doing what she liked and decided to make her living at music. In 1970, she released her debut record, Voices of Packaged Souls (1970), a collaboration with sculptor Harold Paris, put together using music concrète techniques at radio station KPFA in Berkeley during the night shift. The album had an initial release of 50 copies. Career 1970s In April 1974, Ciani began a nineteen-year stay in New York City, travelling only with clothes and her Buchla synthesizer. Among her first activities was a solo performance at the Bonino Gallery in conjunction with the opening of a Ronald Mallory exhibition. Ciani became a session musician, but soon struggled to maintain a steady income. She once accepted a concert performance at the Lincoln Center in Manhattan, but when she was denied a four-speaker quadraphonic sound setup, she refused to perform. She also spent three years on the venue's renovation, but "that didn't work". At a solo show in April 1975, Ciani learned that Vladimir Ussachevsky had attended and recommended her to a grant. She later wrote that she was "homeless and happy" at this time and moved from the loft of art critic Robert Hughes to the floor of Philip Glass's basement recording studio. By 1976, Ciani had secured a National Endowment for the Arts grant. In 1978 Ciani founded Ciani/Musica. Inc. to produce jingles for advertisements for companies such as Coca-Cola, Merrill Lynch, AT&T and General Electric. She enjoyed the opportunity to work for such companies and enjoyed the creative