Talk:Accent (music)

Agogic accent
A recent edit changed a sentence in the intro to read:
 * An agogic accent is a natural emphasis; this type of accent may occur by simple virtue of being longer in duration than surrounding notes, by being at the height of a musical phrase, or by having a naturally emphasized word-syllable attached to it. 

According to my source (Harvard Dictionary) agogic refers only to note length; the term was introduced by Hugo Riemann in 1884 in Musikalische Dynami und Agogik. Don't change this back unless you can source it. &mdash;Wahoofive (talk) 16:36, 17 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Well done, Wahoofive. Just one quibble. Here is the relevant part of OED's entry:
 * "2. Mus. [G. agogik (Riemann 1884).] Applied to a kind of accent consisting in a lengthening of the time-value of the note. Also a'gogical a. So a'gogics, the use of agogic accents."
 * "1893 J. S. Shedlock tr. Riemann's Dict. Mus. (1899) 13/1 Agogic accent is the name given by H. Riemann to the slight prolongation of the note-value, in rhythms, which are in conflict with the species of time. Ibid., Agogics+relates to the small modifications of tempo which are necessary to genuine expression. 1921 Mus. Assoc. Proc. 1919–20 23 Treatises on Aesthetics, Expression, Agogics, Phrasing.  1922 S. Grew Art of Player-Piano 62 ‘Agogic restraint’ is the term found by German pedagogues to describe this detail of rubato.  Ibid. 63 Clashings of discordant notes may be+intensified by an ‘agogical’ pressure.  1962 Times 15 Jan. 14/4 There are subtleties of agogic accent."
 * As the article stands after your correction, it may still not be clear that an agogic accent involves an alteration in rhythm rather than in articulation. "Note length" may be ambiguous. In other words, if you accent a note agogically you delay the onset of the next note; you don't simply allow less of a silence before the next note. With me?
 * For this reason I am making a small change. I hope you find it unobjectionable. If there is any uncertainty, let's discuss it here.
 * –&thinsp; Noetica ♬♩&thinsp;Talk 07:23, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

It has always been my understanding that agogic accent meant the natural stress a note receives by virtue of having a longer note-value. It's interesting to note this additional meaning of it as an interpretive tool. &mdash;Wahoofive (talk) 16:00, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Unclear about accent
Some musicians appear to use the terms for accent and stress interchangeably. Is there any way to distinguish between them?

I assumed that these terms are not synonymous. Isn't stress really just a matter of amplitude? That is, how loud the note is played? If that is the case, what is accent?198.177.27.28 (talk) 07:44, 27 May 2008 (UTC)
 * These terms are not used consistently by all musicians, and may be synonymous in some cases. Referring to an "accent" might mean just a stress (that's the first definition in Harvard Dictionary). But "accent" might also mean a heightened amplitude which falls off quickly, whereas a stressed note might have a somewhat higher amplitude (compared to surrounding notes) throughout its duration. Note that the accent mark looks like a little diminuendo. Both terms mean a way to distinguish one particular note from surrounding ones, but neither suggests a greater amplitude than the other. &mdash;Wahoofive (talk) 16:11, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Definition
Is the definition of accent entirely correct? I have never heard of a staccato note being an accent or of the line being an accent,what is the connection of wahoofive in this topic duhh . --82.152.177.208 (talk) 17:16, 28 June 2008 (UTC)


 * It's true that accent in general means emphasis, as the article says at the start, but the beginning of the section in which staccato is illustrated and discussed is "In music notation, an accent mark indicates a louder dynamic to apply to a single note or an articulation mark." Clearly a staccato dot does not indicate a louder dynamic. Theoretically we could move the staccato bit to another section of the article, but that would be awkward. The proper solution, it seems to me, is simply to remove staccato from the article. We don't need to show every possible kind of emphasis--and, in any case, staccato notes are emphatic only if they're surrounded by non-staccato notes; where most of the notes are staccato, the non-staccato notes would be emphatic. TheScotch (talk) 05:12, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Sources for marcato as ^
1) The Norton Manual of Music Notation by George Heussenstamm, published by W. W. Norton & Company, New York and London, p. 52: "MARCATO This vertical wedge [in following examples shown as ^ or upside-down ^, depending on the direction of the note stem], which always points away from the notehead, signals that the note or chord is to be played somewhat louder than an accented note or chord."

2) Preparing Music Manuscript by Anthony Donato, Prentice-Hall, Inc., p. 50: "Marcato signs, ^ and [upside down ^], are place above or below note heads, opposite the direction of the stems. The sign always points away from the note head."

3) Essential Dictionary of Musical Notation by Tom Gerou and Linda Rusk, Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., p.36: "When the marcato is placed over or under a note or chord, the note or chord is to be played with even more attack, and more marked, than an accent. [Example below shows ^ symbol with the word macarto beside it and an arrow pointing from the word to the symbol.]

Martellato is a bowing, not an accent. From The Technique of Orchestration by Kent Kennan and Donald Grantham, Third Edition, published by Prentice-Hall, pp.53-54: "The indication for [martellato] may be dots, arrowheads, accents, or a combination. Occasionally the word martele [French version of the Italian martellato--imagine acute accent on the final e] is written in....More often, however, the player simply chooses the martele bowing as being appropriate to the music at hand.''" TheScotch (talk) 07:28, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Additional citations
Why and where does this article need additional citations for verification? What references does it need and how should they be added? Hyacinth (talk) 23:44, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

I hate wikipedia!!!!
Your article on Accent (music) was not helpful at all. As you can see by my username I am dumb, and you did not help improve me. At all. Improve you dumb section. PLEASE! I need help! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dummy500 (talk • contribs) 15:07, 9 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a manual. Hyacinth (talk) 12:42, 16 January 2016 (UTC)