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The horizontal wedges on four of the sixteenth notes are accents. They instruct the musician to play these notes more forcefully.
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:
- A dynamic accent or stress accent is an emphasis using louder sound or a stronger sound, typically most pronounced on the attack of the sound.
- A tonic accent is an emphasis on notes by virtue of being higher in pitch as opposed to higher in volume.[1]
- An agogic accent is an emphasis by virtue of being longer in duration.
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 accented 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.
Agogic[edit]
There are four kinds of agogic accents :
- Longer notated duration of a note, for example, a whole note/semibreve (four beats in common time) among quarter notes/crotchets (each of which gets one beat).
- Extended duration of a note within its full-time value (without altering the tempo). For example, players of organ and harpsichord (which do not allow the use of dynamic accents) can emphasize one of a sequence of staccato quarter notes by making it less staccato (that is, making one note longer to emphasize it).
- Extended duration of a note with the effect of temporarily slowing down the tempo (rubato or rallentando).
- Delayed onset of a note, for example by doing a pause before starting a note.
Marks[edit]
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:
- The most common symbol is the horizontal wedge, the first symbol in the diagram above. This is the symbol that most musicians mean when they say accent mark. It indicates that the marked note should have an emphasized beginning and then taper off rather quickly. Though it is usually simply referred to as an accent. In jazz articulation, it is stated as «dah».
- The vertical wedge, shown second, signifies that a note should be played marcato (Italian for «marked»). It is generally accepted to be as loud as an accent mark and as short as a staccato. Martellato, Italian for «hammered», is another name for the marcato symbol used primarily by orchestral string musicians as it refers to the specific bowing technique used to create marcato. In jazz articulation, marcato is typically stated as «daht» yet the performing musician may interpret the duration of the note differently depending on what style of jazz they are playing.
- The dot, shown third, signifies that a note should be played staccato. It indicates that the last part of a note should be silenced to create separation between it and the following note. For example, a written quarter note should be played as an eighth note followed by an eighth rest. The duration of a staccato note may be about half as long as the note value would indicate, although the tempo and performers’ taste varies this quite a bit. In jazz articulation, it is stated as «dit».
- The staccatissimo mark, shown fourth, is usually interpreted as shorter than the staccato, but composers up to the time of Mozart used these symbols interchangeably. A staccatissimo crotchet (quarter note) would be correctly played in traditional art music as a lightly articulated semi-quaver (sixteenth note) followed by rests which fill the remainder of the beat.
- Finally, the tenuto mark, shown fifth above, generally means that a note or chord is to be played at full length. In jazz articulation, it is stated as «doo».
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]
Sforzando notation on a quarter note beat
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»).
See also[edit]
- List of ornaments
- Sforzando
References[edit]
- ^ «Tonic accent», Vocabulary.com. Accessed: 24 April 2020.
- ^ Accents and Markings — Making Sense of ‘^’ and ‘.'», How to Read Sheet Music. Accessed: 24 April 2020.
- ^ McGrain, Mark (1990). Music Notation: Theory and Technique for Music Notation, p.165. Hal Leonard. ISBN 9780793508471.
Have you ever heard of the phrase, “music is the language of the soul?” Well, there’s actually more truth in that than you might think!
It’s said time and time again that music is a universal language. And like any spoken language, there are certain types of structural elements that can transform a mere collection of notes into a grand composition. These elements are called “accents.”
If you’re unfamiliar with music accents, you’ve come to the right place. This is your one-stop guide to musical accent, where you’ll find answers to questions like, “what is an accent in music?” and “what are the types of accent marks in music notation?”
Let’s dive right in!
Accent in music pertains to the emphasis or prominence in which a note should be played, usually in the form of increased volumes. Where written language uses italics, bold, and underline, accents in music use staccato, staccatissimo, marcato, accent, and tenuto.
What Is the Purpose of Accent In Music?
Musical accents make a regular piece stand out through a combination of vibratos, legatos, trills, bends, and various other types of music embellishments. They give a musical composition a unique voice that commands the listener’s attention.
When used properly, accents can instantly turn a piece into a highly attractive musical composition that sticks out from the rest.
Accent marks often appear directly above or below a note to indicate that a note should be played differently from the rest, giving it a particular phonetic value. They can be placed on just about any note, from whole notes and beyond.
What Are the Categories of Accents in Music?
Accents in music are often divided into three main categories: dynamic, agogic, and tonic. Let’s take a look at the differences between them:
Dynamic Accent
A dynamic accent, also referred to as stress accent, is the most common type of accent and can be seen in almost every musical composition.
It indicates that a particular note should be played louder or stronger than the notes surrounding it, therefore creating a dynamic or attention-catching emphasis on the music.
Agogic Accent
An agogic accent indicates that a particular note should be played longer or shorter than the notes surrounding it. It can also indicate a pause of silence.
It’s grouped into four categories, as follows:
- Note expressed in a longer notated duration
- Note expressed in an extended duration within its full-time value without changing the tempo
- Note expressed in an extended duration in order to temporarily decrease the tempo of the music
- Note expressed in a delayed onset, like pausing before playing another note.
Mostly, this accent is used to add emotion and expression to a certain lyric.
For instance, instead of continuously playing a dull sound at a measure of 4/4 time with 4 quarter notes beats or its equivalent, the musician would add an agogic accent on the fourth beat to make the note stand out. The effect produced can be any of the mentioned above.
Tonic Accent
A tonic accent, also referred to as pitch accent, is the least used of the three accents. It’s added to a composition to indicate that a certain note should be higher in pitch as opposed to higher in volume. For this reason, it’s used for inflection or flowering purposes.
Musical Accents According to Lerdhal and Jackendoff
Fred Lerdahl was an American composer and music theorist. Ray Jackendoff was an American linguist. Together, they published a book in 1983 called the Generative Theory of Tonal Music, or GTTM for short.
The GTTM aims to unite our capacity for musical understanding through the rationalization of structural compositions. Throughout the years, the GTTM has spurred multiple research in the fields of music theory, cognitive musicology, and music cognition.
In the book, Lerdhal and Jackendoff discussed the following accents:
Phenomenal Accent
A phenomenal accent gives emphasis to a particular moment in a musical flow.
According to Lerdahl and Jackendoff, these moments refer to the music points of “local intensification.” These points are caused by a composition’s change in intensity alongside simultaneous note loudness, density, duration, and pitch.
Structural Accent
A structural accent refers to the harmonic and melodic shift of gravity in a musical section or the start of a musical phrase. Cadence is a great example of a structural accent.
Metrical Accent
As the name suggests, a metrical accent refers to any beat that has a strong metrical context.
Musical compositions are often filled with musical divisions and a set number of beats, with some carrying more emphasis than others.
Accents that naturally occur are called metrical accent, or simply metric accent. Most Western music has accented first and third metrics.
In Essen and Povel’s 1985 research study Perception of Temporal Patterns, the three rules that govern metrical accent detection are as follows:
- Accents are perceived as isolated events
- In sequences of three or more events, the first and last events are accented
- When a pair of events are isolated, the second event is accented but only if it’s relative to the first event
What Do Accent Marks in Music Notation Mean?
There are five types of accents in music, all of which have different methods of accentuation. This includes staccato, marcato, staccatissimo, tenuto, and a wedge-shaped accent mark simply referred to as accent.
Staccato •
A staccato note is indicated by a simple period above or below a note. As you might have expected, this accent note tells the player to pause or shorten the note, usually by half of its written value, before moving on to the subsequent note.
Similar to the periods used in written language, a staccato creates a separation between two notes.
Staccato comes in three common varieties, as follows:
- Mezzo staccato: slightly detached and accented; a combination of staccato and tenuto
- Staccato forzato: short but strong; a combination of staccato and marcato
- Staccato duro: hard and distorted, but only for a short duration; a combination of staccato and martellato
Marcato ∧
Marcato, or simply marc, is a combination of accent and staccato. This wedge-shaped vertical accent indicates that a note should be played louder than the rest of the corresponding notes.
A marcato mark, also known as martellato (Italian for ‘hammered’) is about as loud as an accent mark and about as short as a staccato mark.
In his book Evoking Sound, James Mark Jordan brilliantly describes the marcato sound as a “rhythmic thrust followed by a decay of the sound.”
By classically trained musicians, the marcato mark is dubbed as the “false version” of marcato. In jazz articulation, marcato is stated as “daht”.
Accent >
An accent mark, indicated by a wedge-shaped horizontal accent mark or a greater-than symbol, emphasizes a note without lengthening the note’s written value.
The emphasis usually starts at the beginning of the note or at the third beat of a measure before quickly narrowing down.
Compared to the “false version” of marcato, the accent is the “true version” of marcato.
Pieces with heavy syncopation, like Giovanni da Firenze’s madrigal Appress’ un Fiume and the refrain from Agincourt Carol’s Deo Gratias, have accent marks that fall on every other quarter note, eighth note, sixteenth note, and so on.
In jazz articulation, this musical accent is simply referred to as “dah”.
Staccatissimo ▽
A staccatissimo mark is used few and far in between, primarily because composers usually opt for staccato. It’s quite similar to a staccato mark, except the note in question is cut short faster than a staccato accent.
Due to this, composers up to the time of Mozart used staccato and staccatissimo interchangeably.
In traditional music, a quarter note or staccatissimo crochet is played as a lightly articulated sixteenth note or semi-quaver, where the rests then follow the remainder of the beat.
Tenuto —
A tenuto mark is the complete opposite of the staccato mark. Where staccato tells players to pause or shorten a note, the tenuto mark indicates that a note should be played in its full value before moving on to the next.
If a musical piece has several tenutos in a row and is accompanied by a slur, an accent called “tenuto vari” is achieved. Tenuto vari is detached but empatic.
Other Commonly Used Musical Notations In Music
Apart from the accents mentioned above, you’ll likely encounter the following accents:
Slash
A slash notation represents repeated notes that require a player to improvise their own rhythm pattern according to the symbol given by the staff.
Usually, this is drawn in three different manners:
- One slash: for the whole duration of the given note value, eight notes are repeated
- Two slashes: for the whole duration of the given note value, sixteenth notes are repeated
- Three slashes: unmarked tremolo, repeated as many times as possible throughout the whole note duration
Dotted Note
A dotted note increases the overall duration of the note by approximately half its original value, similar to what’s shown with the staccato accent.
For instance, a dotted half note equates to a half note of a quarter note. A note with two, three, or four dots lengthens a musical duration by a quarter, an eighth, and a sixteenth respectively.
The use of double- and triple-dotted notes appear in Frédéric Chopin’s Prelude in G major for piano, Op. 28, No. 3.
Keep in mind that, although theoretically possible, notes with more than three dots are extremely rare. Therefore, it’s unlikely that you’ll encounter them unless you’re playing with pieces with heavy syncopation.
Beamed Tremolo
Notes with a beamed tremolo require the player to rapidly alternate between two different notes.
Similar to dotted notes, beamed tremolos are beamed with either one, two, or three layers. The rules for this particular accent are fairly similar to the slash accent, where one beam equates to one stash, two equates to two slashes, and so on.
Slur
Also known as the swoopy line, the slur requires players to play the note in a smooth manner. The notes should be played with an articulation called legato, meaning to play without separation.
If the stem is pointing downward, the slur is generally placed over the notes. If the stems are pointing upwards, the slur is placed underneath.
Tie
A tie in music notation connects the heads of two subsequent notes with the same pitch, which therefore indicates that both of the notes should be played as one.
Although it shares a similar appearance to a slur, keep in mind that slurs join notes of two or more dissimilar pitches to be played seamlessly, but independently.
Portato
A portato accent is a combination of half-slur and half-staccato, making it both smooth and choppy. The notes are played in a more defined and smooth manner than either of the mentioned two accents.
Sforzando
A sforzando accent, also known as sforzando, sforzato, forzando, or forzato, is commonly abbreviated by sf, sfz, or fz symbols. It indicates a loud, forceful accent without about the same expression depending on the musical notation’s dynamic level.
Fermata
A fermata, also known as hold, pause, cyclops eye, or birdseye, indicates that a note should be sustained and prolonged beyond the normal note value duration.
There’s no metric as to how long the note should be held; it’s entirely up to the discretion of the conductor or performer. Usually, it’s twice as long. However, it isn’t unheard of to sustain a note triple or quadruple the note’s original value.
If performed in a concerto, the fermata symbol indicates a cadenza or an improvised ornamental passage.
Fortepiano
Fortepiano follows a loud-quiet pattern, where the player plays a note loudly (forte) then immediately softly (piano).
As you may have guessed, the word fortepiano in Italian etymology is translated as ‘loudsoft.’
This musical dynamic is usually abbreviated with the letters fp. It’s quite common for a fortepiano accent to be followed by a crescendo, AKA a gradual increase in tone intonation and dynamics.
One of the most common musical pieces that begin with a fortepiano is Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8.
Music, in its nature, is a language performed by an artist or a group. Like any spoken language, there exists an element that changes its composition – and that’s we call “accent.”
Accent also is used as a term to indicate any notes and signs that require sound emphasis. On musical instruments with a range of dynamic distinction, the prominence or emphasis is in the form of an increase in volume, commonly happening at the start or even a moment after the start.
On musical instruments incapable of any dynamic distinction like the organ or harpsichord, the prominence or emphasis is in the form of manipulation of sound effect duration by an agogic accent.
How Accents Work In Music?
In layman’s terms, speech accent can be observed in terms of sound volume, duration of each syllable, or the manner of pronunciation. Musical accent also has its own version, but not all instruments are capable of creating an accent in the three ways observed.
Another term of accent is “stress,” which is a momentary emphasis or prominence of a specific melodic or rhythmic detail. It can be indicated through graphical means such as symbols “>” and “–” or verbally. In a metrically organized music, accents are used for the artistic articulation of sound in compatibility with specific patterns of another activity like dancing.
Generally, the first beat of measure contains the heaviest accent, and the subsequent measures have lesser accents. An entire measure can be subjected to variations of accentuation, which influences the meaningful phrasing, especially on periodically structured Music.
Use of Accents on Music Notes
There can be numerous ways of playing or singing the same note. You can either hit the note strongly or softly. And you can also deliver it quickly or smoothly. Accents, indicated over or under the markings of notes, serve as an instruction on how to approach a certain note.
An accent mark, also referred to as an articulation mark, indicates that a louder dynamic shall be applied to a particular note. The most commonly used is the “horizontal accent“. This is what musicians refer to when they talk about accent marks.
The vertical accent may be used strongly or weakly than a horizontal accent. However, there are such inconsistencies in its practice that even informal names such as housetop, mamba-Jamba, or teepee are being utilized. In most applications, the vertical accent is played with more force and short durations.
Categories of Accents
Accents are categorized into three: dynamic, agogic, and tonic.
1) Dynamic Accent
This accent is the most common type and involves any manner that places stress on the note in terms of the sound volume. A note with the dynamic accent will be played either loudly or softly compared to the surrounding notes. It is commonly used to add “dynamics” or an “attention-catching” approach.
2) Tonic Accent
A tonic accent also called a pitch accent, is used less frequently compared to other accent types. It is done by emphasizing a note by adding the height of the pitch for inflection or “flowering” purpose.
3) Agogic Accent
This accent emphasizes a certain note by adjusting the length that is meant to be played to add some expression outlet of the musician or an effect to a certain lyric. Imagine yourself playing a sound at a measure in 4/4 time with 4 quarter notes. There is a natural accent in the first and third notes, but then you want to add some changes by adding an accent on the fourth beat.
Observe that each note has one beat. In order to add the wanted agogic accent, you only have to play that note just a bit shorter or longer than the full beat. The change of duration makes the note stand out.
The dynamic accent is the emphasis given to a single note or set of notes in a performance by a noticeable change in volume. Agogic accent is the prolonging of a sound or a pause of silence. Meanwhile, pitch accent is the inflection of pitch of a musical note or a simple additional ornament in singing style or the combination of the two.
Notes: Dynamic accents, which are reflected on a momentary increase in volume, must be differentiated from the agogic accents, which are reflected by manipulation of musical duration. The process called “syncopation” is where regular accents implied are displaced temporarily.
For instance, the first beat’s accent will be repressed by the quarter rest and trailed by a half note. Another way of looking at it is as the first beat that may be connected across a bar line to the previous note of the earlier measure instead of being substituted by a rest.
Types of Accents
For a more technical distinction, there are five types of accents: staccato, staccatissimo, marcato, accent, tenuto. One type of accent is called “accent,” but this is because the other types create emphasis yet are technically different from the general application of accentuation.
1) Staccato
This indicates that a certain note is shortened, usually by half of its written value, in order to portray some silence in between the next note. The silence serves as a distinct separation between the adjusted note and the trailing note.
The duration might be about half of the length of the indicated note value, though the tempo and taste of performers can create smaller variations.
2) Staccatissimo
It’s the second symbol shown above. It essentially means a shortened staccato—it known as “very” in Italian. The staccatissimo quarter note can be played correctly in traditional Music as a softly articulated sixteenth note trailed by rests that fill the beat’s remainder.
3) Marcato
This type of accent is the “false version” of marcato preferred by musicians who are classically trained. The correct term implied is “martelato.” Other musicians just refer to it as a “rooftop accent.”
This accent means emphasizing a note by sounding or playing it slightly louder. It can also essentially be the combination of staccato and accent, where the note is played with similar dynamics to a regular accent. Still, the length is condensed into half of the note’s original length, depending on the style or preference.
4) Accent
This type of accent is the “true version” of marcato referred to by musicians who are classically trained. It means emphasizing a note without lasting longer than its written value. The marked note has an emphasis at the beginning and quickly narrows down.
5) Tenuto
This type of accent can be simply referred to as “sustain.” It means that the note is accentuated by playing it slightly longer than its written value. On the music sheet, the note to be emphasized is separated with a small space with the other surrounding notes. That space indicates that the note is to be sustained for a specified duration, usually at the player’s discretion.
Conclusion
Musical accent, much similar to learning the speaking languages of other races and cultures, requires a lot of learning and practice. Attaining the accent that was meant to be designed or written demands diverse musical skills in order to be executed perfectly. Accents can be displayed in different ways depending on the genre of Music and the capability of playing musical instruments, including the voice.
The markings of the accent on the musical sheet can be fairly understandable. In usual practice, if the note’s stem goes up, the mark is written below. On the other hand, if the note’s stem goes down, the mark is written above. However, if the mark to be written can be hardly noticeable, it is usually written at the end of the note’s stem.
The placement of the markings can often be disregarded since the note will always be played according to being designed. Even when such symbols are absent, any musician with enough experience can initiate the appropriate signal according to the musical style.
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- What does accent mean in music?
- What are the different types of accents?
- How do marcato and accent differ?
- Also, check out our breakdown of What Is Theme In Music and What Is Coda In Music?
If you’ve spent any time looking at sheet music notation, then you’ve probably encountered accent markings. Did you know that there are also other types of accents in music that aren’t marked on the score?
If this sounds confusing, and you’re wondering what is an accent in music, don’t worry. In this article, we’ll break down what the different types of accents are and how to play them.
What Is An ‘Accent’ In Music?
Accent in music refers to placing extra emphasis on a certain note or chord. This can be accomplished through the use of dynamics, through placement within a bar of music, or through the use of higher pitches and longer note durations.
Sometimes, an accent may be created through multiple means, or even through using all of the above techniques.
There are several types of accents: dynamic, metrical, tonic, and agogic. Dynamic accents are notated in sheet music using different kinds of accent marks, while the other accent types are implied.
Some accents in music are stronger than others, and each kind of accent mark is performed in a unique way. Let’s explore more about the different types of musical accents…
Dynamic Accents
Dynamic accents are what many people equate with the term “accent.” Dynamic accents are when a particular note is emphasized by being played louder than those around it. This type of accent is sometimes also referred to as a stress accent.
Accent Notation in Sheet Music
There are several different types of musical articulations that fall into the category of dynamic accents in written music.
1. Accent Mark
The classic, most basic form of accent mark is simply called an accent. It is notated with a wedge over a notehead.
It indicates that the corresponding note should be played louder and/or more aggressively than the surrounding notes.
2. Tenuto
Another type of accent is called a tenuto, and it’s notated as a line above a notehead. It generally indicates that a note should be accented through holding it for the full duration, or perhaps slightly longer. It can be interpreted in different ways depending on the context and the era in which the piece was composed.
Sometimes, a tenuto implies the note should also be played slightly louder, although it’s never played as loudly as the basic wedge accent mark.
3. Staccato
Staccato indicates that a note’s duration should be cut in half so that the second half of the note duration is silence. Because a staccato doesn’t involve a change in volume, it may be considered a type of musical articulation rather than an accent.
We’ve included it on this list because it’s so common, and it may be combined with other accents, as we’ll discuss later.
4. Staccatissimo
Staccatissimo is played even shorter than a standard staccato. The notes should be played as detached from surrounding notes as possible. Some composers will instead write the word “staccatissimo” in a passage notated with standard staccatos.
5. Marcato
A marcato is a type of accent that is played as loudly as the standard accent mark, but also staccato. For example, if you see a marcato marking on a quarter note, it should only be held for an eighth note, and it should be played louder.
Marcato comes from the Italian word for “hammered.” It is notated with an inverted “V” above a notehead.
6. Sforzando
Sforzando looks similar to a dynamic marking and is placed under the entire staff like a dynamic, but it is really a type of accent. This is also the case for its brother, forzando. Both of these markings indicate playing the corresponding note or chord loudly or such that it stands out against the surrounding material.
Accent Mark Combinations
It’s common for composers to blend two different types of accents together, resulting in a new kind of musical articulation. Below are some of the more common combinations.
1. Staccato Accent
This indicates that a note should be played both more loudly and staccato.
2. Tenuto Accent
This means the note should be accented, but you should also be sure you hold it for the full duration.
What is the difference between an accent and a marcato?
Marcato is a type of accent, but not all accents are marcato. As mentioned above, marcato indicates that a note should be both accented and played more shortly, like a staccato.
It is a combination of two types of accents: the standard accent mark and staccato. This is also the definition of the staccato accent mark mentioned above.
Although this may be the technical definition of marcato, many players will interpret marcato to be played even more aggressively than an accent mark with a staccato over it (staccato accent).
As always, the exact way a passage should be performed depends on the period in which the piece was written and the other passages surrounding it within the same piece.
Indeed, some composers reserve marcato for when they want notes to be very separated and very accented––in other words, a stronger and shorter accent than the staccato accent.
It can vary by composer and by player. If you ask different classical musicians what the staccato accent means versus the marcato, you may even get different answers!
For more songwriting tips check out What Is Negative Harmony?
What is the difference between accent and staccato?
Staccato does not indicate that the corresponding note or chord should be played any louder. On the contrary, other dynamic accent markings, such as the accent and the marcato, do.
A staccato can be considered an accent in that it indicates playing the note differently from notes without the marking on it.
So, if you see an accent mark in written music, don’t assume it’s staccato. And if you see a staccato, don’t play it any louder, like you would for other accent marks.
Metrical Accents
There is another kind of accent in music that isn’t even notated explicitly on a score: the metrical accent. Metrical accent refers to the natural emphasis that music has when it falls on certain parts of a measure.
The downbeat (beat 1) of a measure is always understood to carry the most emphasis. In 4/4 time, with four beats per measure, the third beat carries the second most emphasis.
Beats two and four are considered weak beats because they carry less emphasis than the downbeat and third beat. Weak beats still receive more emphasis than notes played on an offbeat, such as the second eighth note of a beat.
Similarly, the downbeat in 3/4 has the most emphasis, while beats two and three are less prominent.
Syncopation
Accenting notes on weak beats or between beats is referred to as syncopation.
Syncopation occurs when a composer indicates for a weak beat (or between beats) to have an accent, and this makes the effect even more jarring than placing an accent mark over a strong beat.
Syncopation helps drive many genres of contemporary music because it helps create a groove.
Read More: What Is Syncopation in Music? (Types, Usage & Examples)
Tonic Accents
A tonic accent in music is when a note is accented due to being higher in pitch compared to other notes surrounding it. A tonic accent is not necessarily any louder or softer than other notes. It stands out because of its higher pitch.
A tonic accent may also be referred to as a pitch accent.
Agogic Accents
Agogic accents are when a note is accented simply by being longer in duration compared to other notes surrounding it.
Again, the agogic accent does not have anything to do with volume.
Combining Accent Types
Just as it’s possible to combine different types of dynamic accents, as in the case of the marcato accent, you can also combine dynamic accents with metrical, tonic, and/or agogic accents.
For example, a note could be accented with a sforzando and a pitch accent in which it is on a higher note than those surrounding it. Or, you might have a high note that is held for a long time –– a combination of a tonic and agogic accent.