it is very easy to access master page control from content page like
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// content page load event
In my opinion it even better to use event raise from Master page and catch this event in contenet page for changing some contenet on this page, for instance. The main advantage is reusability. In future you may want to change content on other content page from the Master page and in this case you should only add event handler to this content page without changing code on master page. Within such approach you needn't hardcode control name from some content page. And moreover you shouldn't add dependency for some content's control at all.
A sample of implementation you can find here, for example.