emotional state. Language is essential for describing and analysing music, but as ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino explains, such symbols “fall short in the realm of feeling and experience”. Therefore, symbols are secondary or after-the-fact, and may distract from the intimacy and immediacy of the musical experience. It is important to distinguish symbols from symbolism, which is often more metaphorical and more related to icons or indexical responses.

Icons, indexes and symbols help us to understand how music effects people and groups in meaningful ways. Throughout history politicians have understood and have effectively used the iconic and indexical power of music to further their own pragmatic needs. For example, the Nazis used music for their own malicious purposes and political movements. The Nazis used a series of rituals and non – verbal signs like the swastika and the Hitler salute to bind the population into following orders. Furthermore, Nazi leaders repeatedly connected ’German greatness’, ‘Jewish degeneracy’, ‘work’, ‘freedom’, ‘unity’, and ‘military’ together in Nazi speeches, films, and songs. They used music as a form of propaganda, using singing at mass rallies and required membership in choirs to create a sense of collective unity for the German people and they highlighted the greatness of German music while not tolerating music written by Jewish or black people. The Nazis constructed the ‘elite’ German political identity through these rituals and propaganda music and influenced others to also take on this identity.

Additionally, an example for a social movement is the Civil Rights Movement which used music as a tool for positive change. During the Civil Rights Movement, mass singing was one of the primary forces that united people and created a sense of unity. Songs like “We shall Overcome” became iconic of the movement and people developed indexical responses to those songs and the movement as a whole. Through the semiotic power of music like in the rise of the Nazi party and the civil rights movement we can see how much has been used a political tool throughout history.