Musicality For Modern Humans

coming soon

How to Listen Like An Artist

Musicality For Modern Humans propels music appreciation into the 21st century.

It’s a self-enrichment book about the inner game of sound-based art for curious people who wish they could get deeper into music, including those who feel confused, overwhelmed or intimidated. It’s a book for anyone looking to shake up their habits, free themselves from algorithmic control, and discover how much more there is to listen for in both contemporary and historic music across all genres. 

Musicality is about how composers and musicians manipulate tone, time, and timbre to reach us emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. It’s also about how we respond as listeners and how alert we are to creativity and nuance. With recollections, wit, and wisdom earned through 25 years reporting and a lifetime of playing, Nashville-based writer and broadcaster Craig Havighurst punctures assumptions and biases, simplifies the conversation around music theory, champions some the finest artists working today, and guides readers in a rethink of their musical diet.

Humbly honoring the populist educational lineage of Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Wynton Marsalis and Billy Taylor, Havighurst is a new voice filling the void left after musical literacy was diminished in schools and largely exiled from the mainstream press. He offers a personal, passionate corrective with a program for active, engaged listening with the goal of enhancing our sense of self-worth, our mental health, our capacity for empathy, and our bonds to family and community.

Readers of every level and musical background are invited to heed the words of Isaac Stern and make music "an active part of natural life" through discerning listening and a joyful, life-long adventure in the many realms of musicality.