Born in Alva, Oklahoma, Mason enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she earned both a Bachelor and Master degree in music. She was so proficient, she joined the U-M music faculty, in 1947, even before she had graduated. Except for spending one summer in France studying organ with noted artists Maurice Duruflé and Nadia Boulanger, and some additional time earning the Doctor of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Mason has spent almost her entire career at U-M. Her career as performer, lecturer, adjudicator, and teacher has taken her throughout the western world, at one point performing more than thirty recitals per year. In 1988, she was described as "among the important influences on the American organ scene in the second half of the 20th century" by the American Guild of OrganistsNew York Chapter when she was named International Performer of the Year. Over her career, she has also commissioned over 75 original works for the organ. In 1985, a C. B. Fisk organ modeled on the eighteenth-century organs of Gottfried Silbermann was commissioned by the University of Michigan School of Music and named the Marilyn Mason Organ in her honor. She was the first American woman organist to perform in Westminster Abbey, the first woman organist to play in Latin America, and the first American organist to perform in Egypt. Mason's teaching legacy was recognized in the fall of 2007 when the 47th Conference on Organ Music, which she founded in 1960, was dedicated to her in celebration of her 60th year of teaching. On the occasion of the 2009 GALA, sponsored by the national council of the American Guild of Organists, she was honored as the seventh in a series of organ teachers/performers who have reached the highest level of success in their profession. A biographical video retrospective, "A Life's Harmony," was created in 2007 to recognize Mason's exceptional teaching and mentorship. She was the longest-serving faculty member at the University of Michigan, retiring after 67 years, and was recognized in 2013 with a symposium in her honor titled "Teacher of Music, Teacher of Life". Mason died on April 4, 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, aged 93.
