What is the difference between accent and staccato?

We all get accents and staccatos confused.

When you first learn the meaning of each musical symbol, you may think, “I see,” but when you see it in the score, you may wonder, “What is that? How do you do that? Isn’t accent the same as staccato? But when it comes time to look at the music, you may wonder, “How do I do that?

In this article, we will explain the difference between each and how to play each.

What do accents and staccatos mean in the first place?

Do you somehow remember that “staccato is to play with a bouncing “pop” and accent is to play strongly”?

First, let’s review the meaning of each.

What is staccato?

A term used to indicate that a note should be played shorter than its original length. It is indicated by placing a (.) above or below the note. The abbreviations stacc, or stacc, are also used.

Source: Dictionary of Music Terms

As you can see from the meaning, staccato is not “to play with a ‘pop’ and a bounce,” but “to play shorter than the original length.

In other words, “
length of a note
is a musical symbol that specifies the “length of a note”.

What is an accent?

The notes marked with the “>” accent mark (symbol) are played with special emphasis. To emphasize means to increase the volume. The notes are played particularly loudly, but it is important to control the power of the fingers (touch) for piano, the bow for strings, the speed of the breath for wind instruments, and the force with which the note is struck for percussion instruments. Either way, it is an advanced technique. That said, it is a difficult technik for beginners, and if you try to accentuate it somehow, you will struggle with it. However, this will bring the melody to life. It is an important element to make the music full and lively.

Source: Dictionary of Music Terms

It’s a bit long, but you have a conclusion at the beginning of the sentence.

Accent is “playing only that note with emphasis.”

In other words, “
Loudness
The musical symbol specifies the “loudness” of the sound.

To sum up.

Staccato = shortening the length of a note

Accent = louder sound

Yes.

So, how should we distinguish between the two when actually playing on the piano?

How to play accents and staccato?

Can you clearly distinguish between accents and staccato?

For example, if you try to play staccato and hit the note too hard, or conversely, if you try to play accents and make the note jump, you are not playing it properly.

How to play staccato

First of all, the meaning of the staccato is that the notes with this symbol
Be aware that the length should be halved
.

In other words, instead of just splashing the note, a quarter note should be played as an eighth note, and an eighth note should be played as a sixteenth note in length.

At this point, if you get too caught up in shortening the note, you will end up accentuating the note unnecessarily (making it louder) by striking the note from a high place.

Ease up from the wrist and capture the keyboard with your fingertips
and you will be able to cut the notes beautifully.

How to play accents

Next, the way the accent is played, if you are too conscious of playing it strongly, the note will be cut off by a high strike, as in the case of staccato.

This is a very bad example of trying to increase the intensity of the sound with arm strength alone.

If you want to play a particular note harder.
Put your weight on the keyboard with your whole body
to get a deep and powerful sound.

By the way, as an application, do you know how to play a slur with an accent?

As in the previous example, it will be easier to play this one if you use your whole body and exert yourself on each note.

Never cut off the note because of the slur. Please practice over and over again to learn how to put your weight on it.