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A stress on a single note or chord, usually marked with the > sign over or under the note; the stronger ^ (marcato) and the letters sf or fz ask for more.
Use an accent to make one note speak against its surroundings — a syncopation, a dissonance you want heard, the start of a figure. Its weight is relative: in pp it is a slight lean, in f a hard edge. For more bite choose the marcato sign ^ or sf; for weight without attack, a tenuto line. Accent every note and none stands out — write marcato or sempre marcato over the passage instead.
Accent is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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