Gerald Strang (February 13, 1908 – November 2, 1983) was an American composer who later in life turned to electronic and computer music.
[2] Strang became a lifelong teacher, at Long Beach City College (1938–58), San Fernando Valley State College (1958–65, where he founded the music department and taught Harold Budd), and California State University, then returning to Long Beach (1965–9) and UCLA (1969–74).
[4][5] During the war he interrupted his musical activities, working as an engineer at the Douglas Aircraft Company.
[3][6] Until 1960 Strang composed mostly instrumental works, and at the beginning of his career was regarded as one of the early Californian modernists, a group headed by Henry Cowell.
[6] Cowell's direct influence is evident in the tone clusters used in his early piano piece Eleven (1931), and in the polyrhythms of Percussion Music (1936).