"Listening to music" is not simply a passive activity one can use to relax, but rather, an active and rewarding process.Professor Wright argues that by learning about the basic elements of Western classical music, such as rhythm, melody, and form, one learns strategies that can be used to understand many different kinds of music in a more thorough and precise way -- and further, one begins to understand the magnitude of human greatness.

This course fosters the development of aural skills for students that lead to an understanding of Western music. The musical novice is introduced to the ways in which music is put together and is taught how to listen to a wide variety of musical styles, from Bach and Mozart, to Gregorian chant, to the blues.

Craig Wright received the degree Bachelor of Music in piano and music history at the Eastman School of Music  and a Ph.D. in musicology at Harvard, and since 1973 has taught at Yale University where he is currently the Henry L. and a professor of Music. At Yale, Wright's courses include his perennially popular introductory course "Listening to Music"; and his selective seminar "Exploring the Nature of Genius"; Among his six books are Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris (1989), Music in Western Civilization (2005), Listening to Music (6th edition, 2011), and Listening to Western Music (2007). He is presently at work on a volume entitled Mozart's Brain: Exploring the Nature of Genius. In 2004 Wright was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Chicago.