Tuning In: Experiencing Music in Psychedelic States - Paperback

by Steven J. Gelberg (Author), William A. Richards (Foreword by)

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.

Author Biography

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.