Life & Work with Cameron Rowan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cameron Rowan.

Hi Cameron, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
It all kind of started through a collection of moments throughout my life starting when I was little. My family was a musical family in the nontraditional sense. My dad and mom were just regular people who were working jobs in construction (dad) and a higher-end hotel (mom). They were both very interested in music, especially my dad. My dad learned how to play the guitar in college, self-taught.

So he learned how to play his favorite bluegrass or country songs. He would randomly pick up the guitar and start singing. Then my mom joined in and when we were old enough my sisters and I would start singing too. It started out with the melody of the songs and my dad jumping to the harmonies. Eventually, my dad would stay on the melody and I would jump to harmonies. We would get all the way to three-part harmonies in some songs, which we still know to this day when the next house concert starts again.

Throughout school, I was in choir and every musical at my town’s community theater. An experience that dictated the direction I wanted to go into was when I was a freshman in high school. I was in Wisconsin’s middle school honors choir. (I auditioned in eighth grade but the concert wasn’t until the fall.)

There was a weekend full of rehearsals before the concert on the last day. During the rehearsal process, the choir gravitated towards one of the pieces, “Amavolovolo” arranged by Rudolf de Beer. It was an upbeat Zulu traditional song with gorgeous harmonies and percussion. If one person started singing the song, it would spread throughout the entire choir like a yawn. It was so much fun! That wasn’t even the part that was foundational for me. Right before the concert, the choir was getting their picture taken in the lobby of a nice hotel. We were all standing very still and professionally for the first few pictures. I guess someone couldn’t stand still for much longer and started to sing the song. The whole choir began to sing. People in the hotel would stop and watch these 200+ kids singing and clapping. I felt so good and so connected with everyone at that moment.

After high school, I went to college for music performance and music education at Viterbo University. There learned about Opera. I was in every opera since Freshman year. At Viterbo, I really started the journey to hone in on my voice. Throughout my undergrad, I changed majors but still kept the performance degree. I started to teach voice lessons and was stumbling at first but quickly found my footing. I went straight to my master’s in Opera Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee because I wanted to be an opera singer and travel the world and that was the next step for me. While I was there I was awarded a Teaching Assistant Position where I would teach private voice lessons to students who were nonmajors. Well, then the pandemic hit as I graduated with my master’s degree. I was very much just trying to survive at that point. Eventually after many other jobs, I started to teach private piano and voice lessons. There I found one of my homes.

I found my life partner while in Grad school. He changed my life for the better and opened a whole new world for me. When my partner graduated from UW-M. We got married and two weeks later moved to Colorado. Once here we were just trying to find our footing and survive. I was working at a local crystal store, For Heaven’s Sake. I wanted to learn more about crystals and metaphysics. I eventually stumbled into sound healing. I was very interested in my musical background and got to researching it. I got my certification in January of 2023 through online courses on Udemy and quickly found out that I had most of the instruments already in my collection. I knew that the universe has been guiding me along the entire way to where I am today.

How I started my instrument collection back in elementary school. My first introduction to different musical instruments was on a field trip in elementary school. A presenter was presenting different musical instruments. The one that blew my mind was the singing bowl. I could never forget that day and started to collect singing bowls and various instruments when I was in college. My first singing bowl was a small little 2 diameter bowl from Saltsburg, Austria. I was so happy when I found one and it was a just-so-happen-to-walk-into-the-store kind of thing.

Once I found ways for the rest of the missing instruments, I started facilitating sound baths at the store in the event room with other facilitators of different healing practices as well as solo events. I have been branching out to various locations as well to bring these events. I have started to do private one-on-one sound healing sessions with clients as well as a new class on how to play a singing bowl. I am still an up-in-coming business trying to grow but the future seems very bright!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wouldn’t say it was the smoothest road. I had some obstacles that were more mental roadblocks for me. I have been really scared to go into sound healing as well as music for that fact. I have been told that I won’t have security or the common stereotype of being a starving artist.

So I have been second guessing my choices in which direction I should go or what to do or am I doing this right.

Luckily, I have fantastic people on my side telling me to keep going throughout my life. I am so grateful and have so much gratitude for each and every one of them. As well as being grateful to everyone who comes to get lessons from me or a sound bath or requests a private session.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a local sound healer in the Denver area as well as a music teacher. I specialize in sound baths using crystal and Tibetan singing bowls, gong, Tibetan bells, a kalimba, chimes, and my voice. For teaching, I specialize in giving piano and voice lessons at any age as well as teaching kids with disabilities.

I am most proud of my students who have learned so much and continue to learn. What sets me apart in my sound healing is the use of my voice and my musical knowledge to harmonies with my instruments. In teaching, the ability to teach students of any age and kids who have disabilities.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I think the role of luck has played in finding the instruments for my sound healing journey.

When I was younger, I found an instrument and thought it would be a cool addition to my collection. Not for use in a sound healing session. Now that is all I can think about when looking at different instruments.

Pricing:

• $40 for 30min Music lesson (piano/voice)
• $80 for 1hr Music lesson (piano/voice)
• $75 for 30min private Sound healing sessions
• $120 for 1hr private Sound healing session

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rowan_sounds/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Rowan-Sounds/100089456690433/
• Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/rowan-sounds-llc-64003489053 

Image Credits
Toren Dorsey, L. Alexandra, Nina Schulze, and Jenny Han