Overview
The first authoritative study of the important role of music in psychedelic use and the ways in which psychedelics provide unprecedented access to the deeper mysteries of music. Finalist for the 2025 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Performing Arts & Music category Tuning In is the first authoritative study of a subject that is of wide and growing importance within the current psychedelic renaissance: the role and experience of music in personal growth and healing via psychedelics. The book brings together the best insights and creative musings on the subject from respected figures within the psychedelic community. Going back several decades (and beyond), this book includes first-hand testimony from numerous ""trip reports,"" along with relevant insights from psychologists, scientists, philosophers, scholars of religion, musicologists, musicians, and mystics. Tuning In takes an experiential approach to understanding the unique synergy between psychedelic states and music: how music profoundly supports and enhances psychedelic sessions while psychedelic states provide a unique doorway into the inner mysteries of music. Author Steven J. Gelberg includes helpful guidance in assessing and choosing music appropriate for psychedelic sessions, along with links to curated music playlists.
Full Product Details
Author: Steven J. Gelberg ,
William A. Richards
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Imprint: State University of New York Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.20cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9798855801118
Pages: 326
Publication Date: 01 April 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
""We have known since the 1950s that music is an essential and beneficial foundation of profound psychedelic journeys, but with only a limited sense of what specific music was called for during a session. Tuning In closes that gap. Gelberg has forever shifted my understanding, not only of the profound importance of choosing the right music, but of the vast library of musical possibilities available. The appendix of playlists is a reference book in itself. Like a well-composed symphony, Gelberg interweaves insights, personal reports, and research results into a complex tapestry. This remarkably useful volume is a necessity for anyone involved with psychedelic therapies and a fantastic benefit to anyone working with psychedelics themselves."" — James Fadiman, author of The Psychedelic Explorers' Guide ""A beautifully written and engagingly personal account of the ancient and again burgeoning marriage of music and psychedelics, two universally powerful prescriptions for expanding consciousness. This is a landmark work for a time of rediscovery and exploration of the possibilities of unlimited conscious experience."" — Allan L. Combs, author of Consciousness Explained Better ""To my knowledge, there is no such work that delves as deeply into various kinds of music and their potentiality for mystical experiences. This work details the routes and tributaries of how music affects the mind under psychedelics and how psychedelics may improve one’s appreciation of music."" — Guy L. Beck, author of Musicology of Religion
""Interested in psychedelics and music? This is the book for you."" — Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan), author of How to Change Your Mind ""Tuning In can be considered a pioneering study on the role of music in psychedelic states, exploring how these experiences can expand our aesthetic perception, deepen our listening, and enrich musical appreciation. The work skillfully blends the author's personal narrative with academic research and interviews with musicians, psychologists, and mystics, creating a beautifully articulated testimony on the intersection between sound and non-ordinary states of consciousness … Music, as he affirms, acts as a profound conduit during psychedelic sessions—a mediator between the conscious and unconscious, the sensory and the spiritual. Throughout the book, he suggests various musical selections, divided by specific themes, with direct links to Spotify playlists. These carefully curated lists function as a living sonic library, rich in variety and with enormous potential to catalyze mystical experiences."" — Journal of Psychedelic Studies ""We have known since the 1950s that music is an essential and beneficial foundation of profound psychedelic journeys, but with only a limited sense of what specific music was called for during a session. Tuning In closes that gap. Gelberg has forever shifted my understanding, not only of the profound importance of choosing the right music, but of the vast library of musical possibilities available. The appendix of playlists is a reference book in itself. Like a well-composed symphony, Gelberg interweaves insights, personal reports, and research results into a complex tapestry. This remarkably useful volume is a necessity for anyone involved with psychedelic therapies and a fantastic benefit to anyone working with psychedelics themselves."" — James Fadiman, author of The Psychedelic Explorers' Guide ""A beautifully written and engagingly personal account of the ancient and again burgeoning marriage of music and psychedelics, two universally powerful prescriptions for expanding consciousness. This is a landmark work for a time of rediscovery and exploration of the possibilities of unlimited conscious experience."" — Allan L. Combs, author of Consciousness Explained Better ""To my knowledge, there is no such work that delves as deeply into various kinds of music and their potentiality for mystical experiences. This work details the routes and tributaries of how music affects the mind under psychedelics and how psychedelics may improve one's appreciation of music."" — Guy L. Beck, author of Musicology of Religion ""In and through his profound spiritual and artistic explorations, coupled with exceptionally comprehensive and disciplined scholarship, Steven Gelberg has given us all a very wonderful gift. As you will discover, he also writes with balance, clarity, touches of playfulness, and rich expressiveness."" — From the Foreword by William A. Richards, author of Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experience ""Steven Gelberg's Tuning In is the definitive guide to the transformative synergy between psychedelics and music—both profound and deeply instructive. Readers will come away with an expanded mind, thoughtfully curated playlists, and invaluable insights into how music can be harnessed to deepen psychedelic exploration."" — Ido Hartogsohn, author of American Trip: Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century
Author Information
Steven J. Gelberg is an independent scholar and the author of India in a Mind's Eye and Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna: Five Distinguished Scholars on the Krishna Movement in the West.
