His early education was in Portland, Oregon, with noted pedagogue Nellie Tholen, where he attended Reed College (1943–1948), majoring in art, history and literature.
[3] He played and recorded with the Pro Arte Piano Quartet, Kenneth Sillito (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola) and Terence Weil (cello).
Crowson also gave the first performance of Peter Racine Fricker's Twelve Studies, in Cheltenham in 1961 and the composer dedicated the work to him.
In 1972 he settled in South Africa permanently where he became a leading concert performer and contributed greatly to the musical life of the country while retaining his international links.
Some of Crowson's students included Clifford Benson, Ian Brown of the Nash Ensemble, Niel Immelman, Jan Latham-Koenig, Gwenneth Pryor, Roucher du Toit, Melanie Horne, Steven De Groote and Ryan Daniel.