Cameron Couchman
About
I love music, creativity, and the whole process of discovering what's possible. I love playing guitar, writing songs, exploring new ideas, and finding ways to express things that aren't always so easy to express.
I love how we're all a little different, and definitely weird. You're such a weirdo! Me too, it's the best. I love discovering all the different flavors of life, and what makes each of us tick, what excites us, what resonates with us, and what we feel excited enough about to share with the world.
I've spent a lot of time teaching, mentoring, and working with young people, and one of my favourite things is connecting with people and watching them discover something new about themselves.
I'm a curious, encouraging person. One of my favourite quotes is that life is too important to be taken seriously. I love to poke fun, and I like (not love) to be poked fun at, to try crazy things out, and just seeing where life wants to take us.
I also write a bunch of silly, ridiclulous, heartfelt songs about being a person, nature, the universe, and eating fruit.
One of my favourite things to do is trade songs, so bring your best!
Some sweet things people have said about me:
Education, Professional Experience & Youth Mentorship History:
Education
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Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario — Bachelor of Arts in Radio and Television Arts, 2012.
Workshop Facilitation & Professional Experience
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Enliven Festival: Facilitated workshops and group experiences incorporating singing, self-expression, creativity, and connection.
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Mystical Yoga Farm: Facilitated workshops and events exploring music, singing, personal growth, and community connection.
Youth Mentorship & Music Education
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SEED Project, Midland, Ontario (2023–2025): Worked as a youth mentor in a garden-based program, supporting young people through hands-on learning and personal development. Activities included permaculture, singing and sharing songs, ritual, communication, reflection, and practices that encouraged connection and growth.
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Katherine Michiels School, San Francisco: Volunteered teaching music to children ages 4–8, incorporating singing, self-expression, intention-setting, simple rituals, altar creation, and mindfulness practices into their learning experiences.
Teaching Style
For me, learning guitar is about so much more than getting good at an instrument. It's an adventure in discovering what you love, what excites you, and what you want to express. One of my favorite things about music is that it gives us a chance to share our unique voice. Only you have your own specific sounds, feelings, ideas, and stories. It's all meant to be shared!
And I love to bring that sense of discovery into the room. We play, experiment with new ideas, explore different sounds, share things we're stoked about, and see what resonates. Everything can be some kind of an adventure. Towards your new favourite style, towards making some crazy sound that you didn't know you could make, or writing your first song that you, and only you, created.
I also love love love to teach songwriting. But it's more guiding than teaching -- I just point to different places and possibilities. Then you figure out how to go there. It's more fun this way, and it makes better songs.
So I'm not really here to preach a certain philosophy or tell you what music should mean. Music is exactly what it means to you. I'm here because I genuinely love playing, creating, and sharing music, and I'm excited to explore whatever that looks like with everyone. And I want our time together to feel relaxed, playful, encouraging, and memorable.
l be myself, you be yourself, and we'll make a bunch of horrible mistakes while we get super good at playing the guitar and sharing the songs in our hearts.
Curriculum
I definitely enjoy working on the practical side of playing guitar: developing solid fundamentals, building useful habits, improving technique, and learning how to practise in ways that help you progress efficiently. And I'll share the tips and tricks I've picked up over the years to help make things easier, so you can spend less time feeling stuck and more time enjoying what you're able to do.
But I also want us to keep asking: What are we learning this for? How does this technique help you express something? How can you bring your own flavor to a song, make a familiar chord progression sound like you, or find the right way to communicate what's in your heart?
We'll connect the skills we're developing to the music and expression that make them meaningful to you. That means listening closely, staying present, being intentional, and following the things that genuinely spark your curiosity. It means bringing a consistent effort, and working through the tricky ugly messy parts. While at the same time remembering that learning doesn't have to feel like a struggle all the time. We're all kinda bad at something until suddenly we're not.
Some things are difficult simply because they're new. We help each other find ways to make the process enjoyable, break challenges into manageable steps, celebrate the little breakthroughs, and yeah, poke fun. My classes will help you develop your skills super effectively while keeping it lighthearted, engaging, and connected to what you actually want to play.
Ultimately, we bring the technical and creative sides together. That's what builds the solid foundation for being able play freely, say what you're trying to say, and sound exactly like you.
One of my favourite books on creativity:
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
