Accent (music)
In music, an accent is an emphasis, stress, or stronger attack placed on a particular note or set of notes, or chord, either as a result of its context or specifically indicated by an accent mark. Accents contribute to the articulation and prosody of a performance of a musical phrase. Accents may be written into a score or part by a composer, or added by the performer as part of their interpretation of a musical piece.
Compared to surrounding notes:
Accents that don't correspond to the stressed beats of the prevailing meter are said to be syncopated. For example, in common time, also called 4/4, the most common metre in popular music, the stressed beats are one and three. If accented chords or notes are played on beats two or four, that creates syncopation, since the music is emphasizing the "weak" beats of the bar. Syncopation is used in classical music, popular music, and traditional music. However, it is more prominent in blues, jazz, funk, disco, and Latin music.
There are four kinds of agogic accents:
In music notation, an accent mark indicates a louder dynamic and a stronger attack to apply to a single note or an articulation mark.
From left to right, the meanings of these articulation marks are explained below:
Even when these symbols are absent, experienced musicians will introduce the appropriate gesture according to the style of the music.[2] Mark McGrain writes about articulation on page 156 in his book Music Notation: Theory and Technique for Music Notation. The marcato accent in the third mark shown is also known as the forzato accent. The notation commonly known as just an accent is also known as the sforzando accent. "Neither of these accents alter the durational value of the note or voicing they attend."[3]
Another way to indicate accented notes (notes to emphasize or play louder compared to surrounding notes) is with sforzando, sforzato, forzando or forzato (abbreviated sfz, sf, or fz) ("forcing" or "forced").