Family

Listening to Dillon Brown talk about music leaves the impression that his experience in the business far overshadows his 14 years.

During a recent lunch break at Santiago High School in Corona, the freshman talked to a reporter on a cell phone, reflecting on his time playing guitar with the Steve Miller Band and other revered musicians.

"It's fun to play with someone who you were inspired by when you were younger," Dillon said before delving into his classic rock band The Igniters. "We played the Whiskey A Go-Go on the Sunset Strip. We've played everywhere."

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Silvia Flores / The Press-Enterprise

Dillon Brown, 14, of Corona, plays the electric guitar in his advanced guitar class at the Fender Museum in Corona.

His story begins with a waiting list, described as "real long, like seven years" at the Fender Center and Museum in Corona.

Through free music lessons there, Dillon said his musical hunger ignited and he ultimately joined a band.

The nonprofit center, supported in name only by the Fender manufacturer, is launching a fundraising campaign to give 800 children the same gift.

Campaign 800 is a fundraising effort of the Kids Rock Free Music Education Program designed to provide 800 children on the waiting list -- which used to include Dillon's name -- with weekly music lessons through a free or low-cost music program. The three-year national campaign officially kicks off this summer by the Fender Center but already has raised enough money to pay for 135 children ages 7 to 17 to participate in the program.

Children from Corona, Norco and several from Orange and Los Angeles counties are waiting for music lessons offered on a first-come, first-served basis, said Fender Center and Museum Executive Director Debbie Shuck.

The center has 400 students in the program but room for 1,200. Each child is eligible to receive 16 weeks of free weekly music lessons that normally cost $600, taught by professional musicians trained to teach piano, guitar, bass, drums, vocals and band.

Mint-green electric guitars hang from the walls of one classroom at the center while another houses a dozen keyboards.

"How cool is this?" Shuck asked while plucking a guitar from a wall. She remembers a day in 1973 when she was 12 years old and, after three guitar lessons at a Whittier school, the teacher said she could not return until her parent's bounced check proved to be good.

"It's not about how much money they have," said Shuck, 49, who never learned to play guitar. "This is me at 12 years old."

The lagging economy has prompted a 30 percent increase in applications at the center from parents who need help paying for music lessons for their children. Shuck says the center is extremely frugal and does not pay for marketing that could be spent on lessons.

"We don't have money for that," Shuck said, noting that employees clean the bathrooms instead of hiring a custodian. And parents mow lawns and clean windows in exchange for their children's lessons.

Shuck says they find creative ways to cut costs and spend money on the children instead of the center.

And after 11 years and 10,000 children passing through the program, it's proved to be worth it.