Brian Miller is the founder of Chords for Change, and is also the singer, song writer, and guitar player for local guitar duet The Silence Figures.  Brian has the extensive, and necessary contacts within the music community of Sonoma County to be able to bring in instructors on a variety of other instruments.

Brian’s personal statement:

For the past four years I have become increasingly aware of the power of music to be able to inspire and heal.  I have seen it in others as I have seen it in my own life.  As I began to research the successes of other music outreach programs, as well as the scientific conclusions of music therapy, I became convinced on the necessity of developing Chords for Change.  Chords for Change will not simply present the women and children who live in homeless and domestic violence shelters with the opportunity to spend a few hours of their week experiencing music, but it will also present them with the opportunity to feel a sense of belonging.  It will give them the chance to express themselves in verbal and non-verbal means, discover a talent, inspire and uplift, and it will validate a sense of self worth and personal identity, that has often been taken by the cruelty and indifference of abuse.

The problem of opportunity for these women and children is twofold:  First, the shelters they inhabit are usually concerned with issues surrounding safety, housing placement, and job training.  They also do not have a staff with the time required to oversee a project like Chords for Change, or the musical training and resources to provide it.   Second, drastic budget cuts have slashed many programs designed to help with the adverse psychological effects of homelessness and battering.  Domestic violence intervention must treat both safety and mental health in order to truly provide a way out.  Currently there are no programs in this area similar to Chords for Change, and thus we are missing a fundamental chance to reach these women on a level only music operates on.

The goal here is not to train great musicians.  Perhaps the goal of Chords for Change is best put forward by the famous music educator Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, who once said, “Teaching music is not my main purpose.  I want to make good citizens, noble human beings.”  Yet even that seems to be insufficient.  We know, that the women we serve are already good citizens, and noble human beings.   Unfortunately, the women might not know that about themselves.  I cannot quantify what is lost when one endures domestic violence, but accounts I’ve read, and the research suggests, one’s self-esteem crumbles under the burden of depression and regret.   Therefore we want to lift their spirits, and let the creative process we use to create music, begin to manifest itself in other parts of their lives.  We want to provide them with a way up, and a way out.  A way out to a place where they can look back and see how good they really are, and how noble they’ve always been.