For the Love of Music and the Draylen Mason Fellows

This past weekend we celebrated both what would have been Draylen’s 22nd birthday and the conclusion of the fourth cohort year of the Draylen Mason Fellows Program at KMFA’s Draylen Mason Music Studio. For the Love of Music combined both a fundraiser for and the Capstone Performance of the Draylen Mason Fellows Program. Draylen’s mother, Ms. Shamika Wilson, coordinated an incredible fundraising event, with delicious food, a vibrant community, and beautiful words about Draylen and his love of music.

As with the first three cohorts, this year’s Draylen Mason Fellows put together another spectacular Capstone Performance, with the theme centering around gender inequality. Each fellow focused on a particular aspect, whether it was highlighting and uplifting a woman composer, tackling the inequities in a systemically gender-biased society, or breaking down negative stereotypes, and presented each within a solo performance combining original messages with a musical selection. Several combined performances capped off the evening, including arrangements madrigal songs and a selection from Hamilton, which the fellows attended in December courtesy of Texas Performing Arts. Special thanks to Sound Garden for their performances and support of the Capstone!

The Draylen Mason Fellows Program was created in honor of Draylen, longtime Austin Soundwaves student and bassist, who was killed in the Austin package bombings of 2018. Members of the community and partner programs wanted to do more than “just” honor Draylen with a scholarship - we all had the opportunity to humbly contribute to growing Draylen's legacy and helping his spirit of musicianship and social justice positively influence the community. Along with the Austin Chamber Music Center, Austin Youth Orchestra, Armstrong Community Music School, KMFA Classical 89.5, Golden Hornet, and Mother Falcon Music Lab, all of whom were an important part of Draylen’s musical experiences, we started DMFP in the spring of 2019.