 In three years at both San Francisco State and Mills College, van Kriedt became proficient in voice and practically every instrument.Van Kriedt was the most influential contributor to The Octet, composing the majority of originals and arranging the standards for it.In 1951 when Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was lecturing at U.C.L.A., he used van Kriedt's composition "Fugue on Bop Themes" to demonstrate counterpoint.