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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Will Mason, owner and CEO of Mason Music, at the Mountain Brook Village studio Aug. 12. Mason Music is celebrating 10 years of business.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Will Mason plays alongside Brianna Walter, an up and coming singer songwriter, at the inaugural Mason Music Fest at Avondale Brewing Company on Aug. 13.
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Photos by Erin Nelson.
Abby Hurst, 9, warms up during a piano lesson with Grant Earl at Mason Music Studios in Cahaba Heights on Aug. 30.
Will Mason never planned to own a business.
Growing up in Mountain Brook, both of his parents were educators, and the path laid before him was education: to go to college and get a degree to provide for a family. But Mason said that just didn’t fit.
“When I was in college, I didn't feel like it was the right direction for my life, and I just felt so lost and wondered what I was supposed to be doing,” he said.
Mason joined the Birmingham band Moses Mayfield in 2003 and spent the next five years making music and playing concerts. There really wasn't a plan other than to keep doing that as long as he could, Mason said.
When the band experienced some changes, Mason got married and decided it was time to quit in 2007.
“I was kind of like, ‘What do I do now? I don't have a degree. I don't have a plan. I'm supposed to be a husband now,’” he said.
He began working construction, playing music at his church and teaching music lessons at night — doing whatever he could to piece things together. It was out of that searching and survival that Mason began turning his music lessons into a sustainable business model.
When Mason Music first began in 2012, everything was free, and the teachers were volunteers. As time went on, he spoke to people who worked in the nonprofit world and realized he wanted to build something that was sustainable.
“When you just rely on volunteers, there is not as much commitment long term, and these kids need people who are going to be in their lives for the long haul,” Mason said. “We had to do something to make a difference.”
Mason said one of the benefits of having the Mason Music Foundation already in existence is that all the processes were already ongoing for managing music lessons, studios, hiring teachers, contracts and policies. To support that, they began raising money to pay the teachers enough to earn their living teaching music.
Mason Music now has 77 employees and anywhere from 900 to 1,100 students at a given time.
Mason Music has five locations throughout Birmingham, with studios in Cahaba Heights, Mountain Brook Village, Bluff Park, Greystone and Woodlawn.
The company offers private lessons in guitar, piano, voice, drums and violin to students of all ages and skill levels, along with music camps, group lessons and Rock Band League.
Mason said part of the reason teachers like working for Mason Music is that all of the administrative components are handled and they just get to be teachers and build relationships with their students.
Mason Music Fest
In the summer of 2021, an end-of-summer celebration was held for students and their families. This year, Mason wanted to do something bigger to celebrate the 10-year anniversary.
“I had a vision for making that into something bigger,” Mason said. “We really wanted to do something that our team could be really proud of and celebrate the fact that we’ve made it 10 years. Instead of putting two events together, we said, ‘Let’s just make an amazing music fest and go big.’”
Last month’s Mason Music Fest, held at Avondale Brewing Co., featured nine bands, all with a Mason Music connection. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the event went directly to the Mason Music Foundation to provide scholarship funds for students.
“As funding for the arts in public education continues to decline, we are stepping into the gap to raise money for music education scholarships with Mason Music Foundation,” he said. ‘We wanted our guests to have a blast at the event and feel good knowing their ticket was helping to pay for someone else in Birmingham to have music lessons.”
As for making it an annual event, Mason said it was a massive undertaking and he would follow up with his team and get their feedback to make sure they felt it was a worthwhile cause. If so, he said they have a solid game plan moving forward, and it will be much easier the second time around.
Past and future
Looking back over the last decade, Mason did not hesitate when asked what gives him the most pride: his kids.
While he didn't push them to do music, they've been in it from the time they were born.
“I built this business, and I get to enjoy my students learning and growing, and I can see them playing at recitals, and I feel really proud,” he said. “To see students get up on stage and just rock is such a rewarding thing. But it doesn't compare to watching my daughter play. She was [initially] nervous and shy, but she came out of the first Rock Band League practice and was like ‘That was awesome!’ And now her band, those are people, her best friends, and they're playing amazing music. Building something my kids love and being a part of, that I get to enjoy from the perspective of a parent now. I’ve been on the other side of the business as an owner and now get to see first hand the joy these kids get from being part of Mason Music.”
Up next for Mason is the opening of the Woodlawn Theater. Coming in late fall, the venue can accommodate 250 people and will also house the Woodlawn Mason Music studio, with class space for up to 200 students per week.
He said he wants this to be a place for developing artists, and there will be shows taking place on a regular basis. The location is geared more toward original artists and will be a ticketed-show venue similar to Saturn or Workplay, but on a smaller scale. It will also be available for private events, including weddings, corporate events and birthday parties.
Mason said looking back on his life, he can see how everything that happened worked to lead him to where he is today.
“I’m a person of faith, and so a lot of my meaning that I ascribe to life is through that lens,” he said. “So every kind of inflection point in my life, I can see God directing it. We have this unique opportunity to be a child’s first impression of music. It's really important to build those connections early on so students will stick with music. That's a really unique reward for a decade of teaching.”
