Cylindrian's Grace Notes

Music, Variety, and thoughts on teaching

cylindrian — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:08:25 +0000

After taking such a long break from doing music, it’s so nice be back. As a music teacher I am constantly challenged to learn various genre’s of music in order to instruct my students on how to play it. I have never been much of a fan of hip hop music. In fact, I find a lot of it completely vulgar. Please, do not take offense to this, it’s merely my personal opinion. One of the things that makes music so awesome is the fact that there are so many different styles of communicating, just as their are languages. Some people understand, others don’t. If you don’t like something, you have the ability to simply change the station or not listen to it. When you’re a teacher and trying to make a connection with students, often times you find yourself making concessions in order to relate. Some teachers may not, but I certainly do. If a student is not enjoying what their doing, they tend to lose their interest in the instrument. I would not be an effective teacher if I didn’t listen to my students and make an attempt to teach them what they want to learn. Meeting students where they are is a great way to start. After I have them hooked, then we move on to some different things. Like introducing picking patterns on the guitar so songs such as, “Landslide by Fleetwood Mac”, or “Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen”. The student may not be interested in learning it until I’ve shown them the simplicity of a picking pattern for “Skyscraper by Demi Lovato”, or “Dancing Till the World Ends by Britney Spears”. It is my desire to teach kids what they want to learn while also incorporating what I love to teach. Many of the songs my students are wanting to learn are making their way into my own performance set lists. This gives my sets some variety and hopefully will keep my audiences wondering…”what’s she going to play now?”. Variety….oh how I love it.

Filed under: Musings

Gorgeous Fall day

cylindrian — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:38:11 +0000

The windows are all open in the house. Its overcast, which I happen to find delightful. I have been working on a piano arrangement of Regina Spektors song “Eet” most of the morning.
I have a little partner who took the liberty of climbing up my pants leg so he could curl up and sleep in my lap. Do you know how hard it is to play piano with a kitten in your lap? Its not easy to keep your legs in just the right position so he wont fall off. Lets see if I can post the picture I took from my phone……

Filed under: Musings Tagged: artist random thoughts, cylindrian, eet, grace buford, kitten, piano, Regina spektor

OMG

cylindrian — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:12:39 +0000

I cannot believe I am finally going to start getting this blog going again. I have been feverishly working on my website which encompasses my art, design, and music endeavors…as well as…working on getting this blog up and going again.
I created a banner for the blog…woohooo…something that I was sure I could do eventually and it ties in so nicely to the banner I created for my website.
I cannot guarantee that I will post everyday in this blog, but I sure am going to try to make use of it again…one way or another.
~g~

Filed under: Musings Tagged: art, blog, cylindrian, design, grace buford, music, personal, rambling

The Times They Are…

cylindrian — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:02:41 +0000

….a changin’!

Greetings folks. Its been quite a long time since I have actually written something of substance in this blog. The reason being…I’m just too darn busy to keep up with all this music stuff.

Here’s the dealio:
1. My children. Being a single mom isn’t easy, ya’ know. I don’t have a lot of free time.
2. I work at Gwinnett School of Music (as a private music instructor…a lot)
3. I’m in college. Yes…continuing my education after taking a 16 year hiatus.
4. Researching music for teaching students in my spare time. Learning Taylor Swift & Hannah Montana is hard work y’all.
5. I’m in a band now. The Lives of the Monster Dogs and I LOVE IT! (formerly known as The Melinda Kingsley Band)
6. Working on music for The Virtual World Story Project (More to be revealed at a later date. But I must say…CUBASE is not an easy program to learn…plug-n-play no way.)

So…I’m a little bit busy. Needless to say, my solo career has taken a bit of a turn. In order to make things easier on myself, I have decided to promote the band more than myself at this time. I have reserved my solo performances to the Virtual World of Second Life(tm) only. I will continue to perform there as Cylindrian Rutabaga as I am booked and as long as people keep coming to shows there.

When I have a moment to breathe (during my short week and a half break from school later this month) I will be sure to touch base with someone who had offered to assist me back in January. I have been doing some information gathering which she had asked for previously, but due to life constraints I was unable to get that assignment completed. So, I have been doing it piece by piece over the past month. This will help with the organization and promotion of the virtual shows and hopefully cause the shows and myself as the performer to be more productive.

The band, The Lives of the Monster Dogs, is performing at Bellissima in Atlanta, GA on 2/18 at 9pmET. It would be really great to see some local folks at the show. When you have a chance, check out our band pages and become fans. (FYI: When we are more established as a band, we will launch our virtual tour in Second Life…but we have a lot to finalize and prepare for before we do that).

Thanks for reading and if you’d like to keep in touch, feel free to follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook and become a fan of The Lives of the Monster Dogs.

Don’t forget!
My music is still available for your purchasing and listening pleasure on iTunes and CDBaby!

I’ll do my best to keep in touch as I can during this hectic time.

Thanks so much y’all. Big love.

~grace~

Filed under: Musings Tagged: cylindrian, grace buford, gwinnett music, monster dogs, music, musician, second life, sl musician

whiskey on kittens

cylindrian — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:56:38 +0000

whiskey on kittens

Originally uploaded by isfullofcrap

On facebook last night I posted this status update:

“singing….raindrops on roses and whiskey on kittens….”

I discovered the error before posting and chuckled to myself…while deciding to acknowledge the error and leave it on purpose. Cause it was funny.

Within moments…my good friend, Crap Mariner, had taken this picture and posted it in response to my typo.

Crap…you are one of a kind and I love ya!

Thanks for the laughs, my friend.

Check out his blog:

http://firstlife.isfullofcrap.com/

Filed under: Musings

cylindrian rutabaga said all she could see was her feet, so

cylindrian — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:08:14 +0000

cylindrian rutabaga said all she could see was her feet, so

Originally uploaded by isfullofcrap

I love the cheeseburgers…courtesy of Crap Mariner…always a prankster. People like him make life more colorful and interesting.
LOVE YOU, CRAP!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

Filed under: Musings

beth and grace

cylindrian — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:22:51 +0000

beth and grace

Originally uploaded by isfullofcrap

Thanks Crap for posting this on my flickr stream. Thought I’d add it to the blog.
Great seeing Crap Mariner & Beth Odets again.
(this photo was taken after Crap gave me a laptop bag strap to use as a belt to hold my pants up…I ended up using it the whole week. Crap Mariner: Cylindrian Pants Saver )

Posted in Musings

ARTathon Artworks and Special Presentation 8/30/09

cylindrian — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:59:51 +0000

You are invited on Sunday August 30 at 2 pm slt to the official opening of the Artathon Artworks and special presentation.

Filthy Fluno, Winter Nightfire and Virtual Ability will host the official opening of The Artathon Artworks on Sunday, 2pm slt in the Avalon Arts District and present a check for over $1000 to Virtual Ability, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps make SL more accessible to people with disabilities and chronic illnesses (www.virtualability.org).

The funds were raised by Filthy and Winter at the SLCC Artathon and auction August 13-16 in San Francisco, and the event will celebrate the collaboration of artists and non-profits inworld, illustrating the potential of art to raise awareness and funds for organizations in the virtual realm
Teleport to Location

Cylindrian Rutabaga to be performing at this event at 2pmSLT. Join us for the presentation and music.

Posted in Musings Tagged: art, artathon, avalon arts, cylindrian, filthy fluno, fund raiser, second life, virtual abilities, winter nightfire

Hematite Island Dancing at the Dock 7/25 2-4pmSLT

cylindrian — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:35:53 +0000

Hematite Island – Shipwreck Cove is proud to bring you another Day
of..

Dancin on the Dock..

Wear your best Pirate outfit

Live Performance: Saturday 7/25/2009

2:00 PM SL time: The Awesome Alex Parsons

3:00 PM SL time: The one and only Cylindrian Rutabaga

Come Jam to some great tunes and Dance your heart out..

Shop in The Great Dreamscape Market and Explore the Sim

Posted in Musings Tagged: alex parsons, cylindrian, dreamscape market, grace buford, hematite island, hollywood topaz, Live Music, secondlife

Second Life(tm) shows for 7/11-7/12

cylindrian — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:50:31 +0000

Following are the show locations & times in both Pacific and Eastern Time Zones for Saturday and Sunday
For most concerts I use my own audio feed
You can listen to the broadcast without having to be in Second Life, BUT you’re missing out on the interactive & social experience. The best way to enjoy a show is to follow the links and join us “inworld”.
Whether you tune in inside or outside of Second Life, I ask that you please show your support for this artist by:
1. letting me know you tuned in & post some feedback
2. tell your friends about me by passing out links, suggesting me as a friend, joining the Grace Buford Music page on facebook
3. purchase my music by going to: Grace’s MySpace Page and follow the links for all three albums under the BIO section
4. if I’m performing in your area…come to shows…or help spread the word to people you know who live in the area of the show.

Thanks so much for listening. I hope to see you at the shows this weekend and in the future.

Saturday July 11th:
Jami and Mystikal’s Anniversary Party: 3pmPT/6pmET
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Palmetto%20Coast/209/111/25

Fire N Ice Gardens: 5pmPT/8pmET
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dark%20Oasis/195/181/24
*with possible guest Melinda Kingsley*

Monnacy: 7pmPT-7:30pmPT/10pmET-10:30pmET
http://slurl.com/secondlife/MOON%20FEVER/182/182/31
*with possible guest Melinda Kingsley*

Sunday July 12th:
Avilion Mist: 1pmPT/4pmET
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Avilion%20Mist/86/128

Serendipity: 6pmPT/9pmET
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Serendipity%20Mall/127/165/25

Posted in Musings Tagged: avilion mist, cylindrian, fire-n-ice, grace buford, Live Music, live music broadcast, moonacy, secondlife, serendipity, valinor