1. A stress or special emphasis on a beat to mark its position in the measure;
2. The mark in the written music indicating an accent. There are five basic accents, staccato accents, staccatissimo accents, normal accents, strong accents, and legato accents with several combinations possible;
3. The principle of regularly recurring stresses which serve to give rhythm to the music.

Percussive Accents				Pressure Accent
Staccato	Staccatissimo	Strong Accent	Normal Accent	Legato Accent
Light Accents		Strong Accent	Medium Accents

Accent Name	Description
Staccato Accent	short and separated from the following note
Staccatissimo Accent	an exaggerated short duration of the note
Strong Accent	generally meant for attacks at loud dynamic levels of forte or louder
Normal Accent	moderately sharp attack that can be used at any dynamic level from pianissimo to fortissimo
Legato Accent	this can be used at any dynamic level and is a slight stress without a noticeable attack and held to the full duration of the note

Combined Accents
Strong & Staccato	Strong & Legato	Strong & Staccatissimo	Legato & Staccato	Legato & Staccatissimo	Normal & Staccato	Normal & Legato	Normal & Staccatissimo
Strong Accents			Medium Accents

Accent Name	Description
Strong & Staccato Accents	very percussive and shorter duration than notated
Strong & Legato Accents	very percussive while retaining full duration of notation
Strong & Staccatissimo Accents	strongest percussive attack possible with an exaggerated short duration
Legato & Staccato Accents	stressed and moderately short, separated from next note
Legato and Staccatissimo	stressed and quite short
Normal & Staccato Accents	moderately percussive and short
Normal & Legato Accents	moderately percussive with full note duration
Normal & Staccatissimo Accents	moderately percussive with short note duration

SUGGESTED LISTENING EXAMPLE:

Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever

W. W. Norton - 4-CD Musical Example Bank -- Disc 2, Track 35