Stress (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 his or her interpretation of a musical piece.

Compared to surrounding notes:

Accents which do not 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 chords or notes are played on beats two or four, this creates syncopation, as 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. The most common is the horizontal accent, the fourth symbol in the diagram above; this is the symbol that most musicians mean when they say accent mark. The vertical accent, third in the diagram, may be stronger or weaker than the horizontal accent; composers have never been consistent in using these markings. In most musical works this type of accent is meant to be played more forcefully and usually shorter. The remaining marks typically shorten a note.

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