Music and emotions: the difference in expression and perception between the composer and listener

The aim of this study is not to try to evaluate or question how and what the listeners perceive in music as conducted in the psychological research. The purpose of this present study is to look into the much debated area of music called program music where the composer uses and or reflects a non musical topic into his composition. The idea of what the composer feels or reflects to his music and how much his reflections and emotions are perceived by the listeners is the topic of this research.This research approaches the question of the differences or the relation between the composers? feelings and listener perceptions with two research questions. The first research question covers how and what the listeners perceive while listening to different program music compositions. The second one, questions the similarities and the differences between the composer emotions and listener perceptions. The research was conducted by using a questionnaire with voluntary university students and the data is evaluated within the parameters of this research.This study offers new insights to the existing research about the perceptions of Turkish subjects participating in this research. Furthermore, the methodology and the approaches used in research design may offer new venues to researchers and encourage them to conduct similar studies in Classical Turkish and Folk Music.Key words: Program Music, Listener Perceptions, Music and Emotion