The band became very popular with the students and the community. Although they played only marches and similar types of music, the faculty viewed the group as problematic and their rehearsals as a frivolous use of time. There were a number of clashes over the band for several years, even after Miller became a faculty member in the music department.

Attitudes on the campus towards Sabbath activities at that time are best described by an incident that happened in the spring of 1894. Miller was in his room on the fourth floor of the dormitory one Sabbath afternoon when, for want of something to do, he took out his cornet and started playing Nearer My God to Thee. The windows were open and the sound could be heard all over campus. The president of the college, E. A. Sutherland, ran up the steps and pounded on the door. When Miller opened it, Sutherland, irate and out of breath, told Miller, "I never want to hear you playing that thing again on the Sabbath!"

Miller started teaching at the college part-time, without pay, in 1895. He continued to direct the band during these years, buying music with 50c donations from interested faculty and persons in the community. On one occasion, he approached the president of the college, who rebuffed him with the comment that he wasn't sure this was a good cause since it might lead the boys away from the Adventist faith.

Four years later he was hired full time and given a salary. A cornet player and pianist, he felt strongly that instrumental music other than reed organ should be allowed for church and chapel. From his first year as a student at WWC he had tried to convince the faculty to allow instruments to play voluntaries and join with the singing of hymns.

Finally, after two years of cajoling and reasoning, he submitted an essay presenting evidence from the Bible and the writings of Ellen White that supported his view. The faculty was convinced and, in 1895, the year he began teaching music part-time, they allowed his brass quartet to play for church services, a first in the five Adventist colleges that existed at that time.

Miller, who married Lulu Hill in 1897, taught music and led the department from 1899 until 1902, when he left to work in the family nursery in nearby Milton-Freewater. After he left, the band, which was led by a rapid succession of directors in the next five years, became fiercely independent, operating outside the school's jurisdiction. This led to a move by the college board in August 1907 to approach the band's officers to see if they would unite with other students on campus and become part of a group under the control of the school. Board minutes from a meeting in September 1908 record that "resolution of the band problem" had finally just been achieved with the hiring of Miller to again direct the group.

Lulu Miller joined the WWC faculty as art teacher in 1924 and would hold that position until 1952, when she retired. Both she and George played alto horns in the WWC band for many years.

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