When he was a teenager, living what he called a "loser lifestyle," a hypnotist put him into a trance and told him he was going to become a famous musician one day by mixing Middle Eastern music with jazz.

Dr. Lloyd Miller spent much of his life scouring the globe in search of musical knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, eventually becoming a famous musician and making several albums.

"I was a big star in Paris and a big TV personality in Tehran," he said.

He eventually found his way to BYU to pass on his knowledge to students.

His students, as they enter his class, talk to him as a friend.

"This is sort of like a family," Miller said. "I sometimes like to razz these guys." And they razz right back.

Everyone in the room takes their place. They pick up an instrument and just start playing. Soon, everyone is in harmony. Each is in their own world, playing their own music, coming together to create a masterpiece.

One student remarked that this is his favorite class; that when he played the Afghanistan instrument, he was playing from his soul, the student said.

There are no music sheets. "You just kind of feel things," Miller said.

You learn by osmosis, he jokes. Not only that, but when a person plays music, they are receiving revelation from on high and sharing it with others.

A Sufi master, or Islamic holy man, Daryush Safvat, one of Miller's teachers during his many travels, taught, "In order to really play music, you have to perfect your body and soul so much to become a polished mirror to reflect the divine light. You can only be shiny by perfecting yourself. Then you can reflect the light to others."

Miller said he thinks this is what happened when President Gordon B. Hinckley walked into a room. He perfected himself so much, like Christ, the greatest source of light.

You need to perfect yourself first. It is a slow process, Miller said, and very few people do it.

"No amount of studying will help you be a great musician, unless you perfect yourself," Miller said. "Then, the skills will almost come automatically from heaven."

Miller's teaching assistant, Liam Brown, said, "I was asking him once about studying Middle Eastern music, and he told me something his teacher told him once: if you want your music to sound good, you first have to be good."

There are unseen things in music, Miller said. His theory is that if you put a note that looks like a circle under a microscope, you would see trees and mountains specific to that note. Molecules are moving around really fast and these make a note... a symphony.

The music is humming like crazy, he said.

"There's music everywhere," Miller said. "There is music within all things: their atoms, molecules, surface sounds and even their appearance."

All people can relate to music.

It is important to "to understand their culture and the beautiful things they have to offer," Miller said.

Many people think that the west is advanced, but Miller said he disagrees. He said we could not even walk on water or heal leprosy just by touching a person. We lean too much on sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Miller is engrossed in jazz and Middle Eastern music. To him, there is nothing better. Music is the life of a people. The world, he said, should stick with the old stuff, the "good stuff." Too many people try to be composers; he related it to paraphrasing the scriptures. Musicians should learn what was here first.

You can murder millions of Jews, but they can still play their music, he said. If you kill their culture with modernization, that would invoke greater harm.

"The real genocide... is what's happening with hip-hop, rock and modernization," he said. "It'll wipe out everything."

Part of his mission, he said, is "to keep traditions alive."

That is how he wound up at BYU. He asked for a teaching position and took steps toward one. However, it was not until last year that he gained a position as a part-time teacher.

Now, when you ask Miller his official title, he'll refer to a story, or "mystic joke" about a Sufi master, or Islamic holy man. This Sufi attended a state banquet dressed in rags and was asked who he was.

The people guessed he was a mayor. As Miller told the story, he pointed higher. A minister? Again, Miller pointed higher. Could he be a king or a God? He indicated even higher. Miller said they warned, "Nobody is higher than God." The Sufi agreed, "Right, that's me. I'm nobody."