I've always been taught that the accent is explicitly not to be treated as playing the note louder or stronger as whole, but rather to emphasize the beginning of the note by quieting the end of the note, i.e. treat the > as a note specific decrescendo

[–] icosahedron@ttrpg.network 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

it completely depends on context and interpretation. there isn't one correct way to play an accent, and you are correct that it doesn't explicitly mean to play louder. what you're describing as an accent is kind of like a fortepiano. similarly, what i described as an accent closely aligns with a sfortzando. point is, accents are vague and there isn't a correct way to play one. more specific styles aren't necessarily correct, and an interpretation is generally only made unambiguous with notation like the aforementioned fortepianos and sfortzandos

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 days ago

To me an accent isn't louder in volume, but it's a stronger or more percussive attack, or start of the note, which may end up slightly louder, but the goal is to strengthen the attack