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Talk:Allen Strange

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So sorry to hear, at this late date, of Allen Strange's passing. Not mentioned in the article is that he also taught at De Anza Jr. College in Cupertino (near San Jose, CA). I was a music major at De Anza and took his Electronic Music class in the late '70's. It was completely over my head - all voltage control this and ADSR that, etc. - a different language. I ended up taking Allen's class at least 3 times, maybe more. I'll never forget this unusual teacher, with long hair and brilliant mind. We knew he was one of the pioneers, having spent early years with Don Buchla, who some credit with inventing the synthesizer. I remember that one of the music studios at De Anza was dedicated to the Electronic Music class and was filled with a full Roland 101 system and an ARP Odyssey (the bain of other musicians practicing in the adjacent studios). I spent many hours there, fooling around and recording on paper lots of patches of unusual discovered sounds when lucky enough to stumble onto something delightful, and at the end of the 3rd class was finally beginning to understand what I was doing, sort of. I still have my 10 minute final "composition" on reel-to-reel, an amalgamation of overdubbed patches. It's actually quite nice! RIP Allen, you made an impact on me and I'll continue to think of you. SanJoseRobert (talk) 17:05, 23 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]