On the Communicative Properties of Music

Music plays a variety of roles as an agent of social utility and source of entertainment. For young people in particular, music helps unify social collectives, introduces new topics, teaches society's norms and rules, and creates new symbols. Because active use of a medium increases its effect as an agent of socialization, music has an impact at physical, emotional, and cognitive levels. The modern rock movement is especially important when considering the activities of adolescents in the U.S. and Europe.