George B. Miller began his career in early Adventist music education with an appointment at Healdsburg College, forerunner of today's Pacific Union College. An organist, he began teaching at the school in 1899, when he was 24 years old. He had earlier come to the college as a transfer student from Battle Creek College where he had studied under Edwin E. Barnes, a well-known and respected organist.

He so impressed the faculty, that he was hired to run the department when he completed his music study at HC. The president of the school wanted to involve more boys in the program and so, working with Miller, chose to replace departing women teachers with men, hoping that would change the image of the music department. Subsequently, John Beardslee, voice teacher, and William Wallace, a violinist were hired.

During his time at HC, Miller proved to be a good organizer with a penchant for detail. He created careful outlines of music programs and established an organized department. Miller left when HC closed in 1908, accepting a position as head of the music department, teacher of voice and keyboard, and director of the orchestra at Walla Walla College. During his three years there, he and a carpentry teacher, working with some students, built WWC's first pipe organ around two manuals Miller had brought with him from California.

When HC reopened in 1909 as Pacific Union College in Angwin, there were few college age students and finances were a challenge. In 1912, three years after the move to Angwin, Charles Irwin, president of PUC and a singer and clarinetist who sang and performed in the orchestra, invited George Miller to come and organize a music program at the new school. During the next three years, Miller taught organ and music theory, established three- and five-year courses in voice and keyboard with detailed expectations, and led the orchestra until a qualified director could be found.

The year he arrived, the first pipe organ, a Murray M. Harris, was installed in the chapel of a newly constructed administration building. Miller, who had some experience in organ building and had in the last year been working in Los Angeles, likely facilitated its purchase and installation.

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