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 Accent > Versus A Rooftop Accent ^
Author: Johnny Galaga 
Date:   2013-11-09 19:20

What's the difference between > and ^ over a note? The best I can remember is that a rooftop accent ^ is the same thing as a regular accent > except that the rooftop accent is also staccato. Basically, ^ = .>. But sometime I've seen rooftop accents written over whole notes. So what do we do?

And then what about bell tones? Does an fp marking sound any different than just a plain old > or ^? Does an fp marking sound any different than a sforzando sfz?

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 Re: Accent > Versus A Rooftop Accent ^
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2013-11-09 21:14

From what I understand, a > is an accent and the full value of the note its placed on whereas a ^ accent is a short, sharp note which is like an accented staccato or spicato.

As for bell tones, play them as an fp or an sfz but come away in volume as soon as you've hit it and remain at the quieter volume for the duration of the note.

If someone has put a hat accent ^ over a semibreve, then maybe they got their accents mixed up and mean a > accent or a sfz as hat accents are usually placed on shorter note values (crotchets, quavers and semiquavers).

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: Accent > Versus A Rooftop Accent ^
Author: kdk 
Date:   2013-11-09 22:01

Chris P wrote:

>
> As for bell tones, play them as an fp or an sfz but come away
> in volume as soon as you've hit it and remain at the quieter
> volume for the duration of the note.
>

Chris, I'm not sure I agree with this part of your post. Fp certainly means what it says - forte to piano with an implication to do it very quickly, not with an identifiable diminuendo. But sfz is simply a very strong accent and can be applied even in a passage that is already marked p or even pp. Once the accent is executed the note returns to whatever dynamic surrounds the note.

As for > and ^ and even ' I really find these to be used idiosyncratically by different composers and you really need to decide what they're meant to mean from their musical context. For instance, Henle uses ' marks (like a string martellato) everywhere in its Weber edition that most editions use staccato dots. Are they really telling the player to articulate differently, or just choosing to use a different sign?

There's a difference, I think, in the way these symbols are used in 20th century band music, where the hat seems to imply a harder, shorter style of articulation than a horizontal accent mark, which does tend to mean less separation between notes. But even that is influenced by performance conditions - halls with lots of reverb demand more separation for clarity and exaggerated shortness for impact accents, while dry halls require more length for almost any articulation not to sound brittle and thin.

Karl



Post Edited (2013-11-10 03:58)

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 Re: Accent > Versus A Rooftop Accent ^
Author: Ken Shaw 2017
Date:   2013-11-09 22:04

I was taught that > was a moderate accent and ^ was a strong accent, the equivalent of sforzando or sfortzato (szf). Sfzp means a strong accent followed immediately by piano, the equivalent of forte-piano (fp) with a "sting."

A Beethoven scholar told me that LvB used ^ to mark a structural joint, and not as a signal for a strong accent.

Ken Shaw

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 Re: Accent > Versus A Rooftop Accent ^
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2013-11-09 22:21

I'm pretty sure I meant what I said which is what you also meant and/or said, so how can you disagree when the same thing is meant/said?

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: Accent > Versus A Rooftop Accent ^
Author: kdk 
Date:   2013-11-09 22:28

Is that an Ormandy quote?

Is it directed at me or at Ken?

I did agree with 2/3 of what you said - only that sfz meant to drop to piano (so I also disagree with Ken about that). :)

Karl

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 Re: Accent > Versus A Rooftop Accent ^
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2013-11-10 00:39

I buy the musical context.
After all, accents and other embellishments are kinda optional, as are traffic signs, the use of turn indicator lights, or instructions in a manual. [tongue]

--
Ben

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