Stefan Kölsch
Good Vibrations
Good Vibrations builds on a scientific and cultural shift in how we understand music. For a long time, music was considered “just entertainment”: pleasant, but biologically unimportant. In the book, I show that this view has changed dramatically. Music is now understood as a biological force that shapes the brain, regulates emotion, and supports health.
When I began my PhD, more than twenty years ago, this shift had not yet happened. At that time, fMRI studies on music and emotion did not exist. I proposed one, and my professors asked, quite genuinely:
“Why should music activate any important emotion structures in the brain? It’s not food, not sex, not a dangerous animal – it’s only music.”
I replied that, for many people (including myself) music can evoke profound emotions, sometimes with strong physical reactions: goosebumps, tears, changes in heart rate. Fortunately, they let me conduct the study, which later became one of the most cited in the field. But this story illustrates a widespread belief of that time: that music might be “nice,” but it was not really emotional in a biological sense. Over the past two decades, that view has been revolutionised. We now know that music can influence activity in all emotion systems of the brain, from those processing pleasure and reward to those regulating fear, sadness, or social bonding.
This understanding is crucial for explaining the therapeutic power of music. If music engages the same brain systems that govern emotion, motivation, stress regulation, and social connection, then it can also help restore balance when these systems are dysregulated. That is one of the central ideas of the book: music is not just something we enjoy. It is something that can change us, biologically and emotionally.
My path to this book has therefore been both scientific and deeply personal. As a musician, I have always felt music’s power to move and heal. As a neuroscientist, I wanted to understand how it works. Good Vibrations brings these two sides together, showing that music is not a luxury, but a fundamental part of what makes us human, and one of the most natural ways to foster wellbeing, empathy, and health.
Curator: Rachel Althof
Good Vibrations
Stefan Kölsch Good Vibrations: Unlocking the Healing Power of Music Cambridge University Press 346 pages, 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches ISBN 978-1009366779
Get the book →January 4, 2026
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Stefan Kölsch
Stefan Kölsch is a German–American–Norwegian neuroscientist, psychologist, violinist, and bestselling author whose work explores how music shapes the brain, emotions, and health. He studied music, psychology, and sociology in Germany, completed his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, and held positions at Harvard Medical School, the University of Sussex, and the Free University of Berlin. He is now Professor of Biological and Medical Psychology and Music Psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway.
Kölsch is internationally recognised for pioneering research on the neural foundations of music and emotion. His studies revealed that music activates the same brain systems involved in emotion, reward, and social bonding, findings that have transformed our understanding of how music can promote mental and physical wellbeing.
Bridging science, art, and human experience, Kölsch’s work aims to make complex research accessible to everyone. In Good Vibrations, he shows how melodies and rhythms can heal, connect, and inspire us, offering practical insights for musicians, therapists, healthcare professionals, and anyone who wants to use music to live a healthier and more fulfilling life
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