David Huron and Matthew Royal
Music Perception, Vol. 13, No. 4 (1996) pp. 489-516.
A musical accent can be defined as an increased prominence or noticeability associated with some note or chord. Music scholars agree about a number of different forms of accent - including dynamic accent (due to increased loudness) and agogic accent (due to increased duration).
Of the various types of accent proposed by music scholars, the most contentious has been the so-called melodic accent. By "melodic accent", music theorists mean accent arising from pitch-related changes such as changes of pitch height, pitch interval, or pitch contour.
For example, some music theorists have proposed that notes are more accented when they are higher in pitch. We can call this treble accent. Benward and White (1989) subscribe to this view.
Alternatively, other music theorists have proposed that notes are more accented when they are lower in pitch. We can call this bass accent. Parncutt (1989) subscribes to this view.
Other theorists have suggested that it is both the extremes of high and low pitch that generate an accent. We can call this registral extreme accent. Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983) have proposed this view.
Yet other theorists have suggested that it is large pitch leaps that generate a melodic accent. The larger the pitch interval, the greater the accent. We can call this interval size accent. Graybill (1989) subscribes to this view.
Some theorists have limited the notion of interval size accent to ascending intervals only. That is, it is thought that large upward pitch leaps generate an accent. We can call this interval ascent accent. Rothgeb (1990) has argued in favor of this view.
Yet another view suggests that melodic accents arise from changes of direction in the pitch contour. According to this view, it is the "pivot points" where a melody changes direction that generates a melodic accent. We can call this contour pivot accent. Lester (1986, p.33) has espoused this view.
Finally, we should note that William Caplin (1978) has questioned the existence of melodic accent. Caplin has suggested that higher notes tend to be performed more loudly, and so what we call "melodic accent" is really just a dynamic accent.
The theoretical and experimental literatures pertaining to pitch-related accent are reviewed. From these literatures, eight competing notions of melodic accent are identified. All eight conceptions of melodic accent were investigated through correlational studies of three contrasting samples of music. Statistical correlations were calculated for each accent type with respect to the corresponding metric position or with respect to the syllabic/melismatic status of associated sung text. The results for all three studies are most consistent with a perceptual model of melodic accent developed by Joseph Thomassen (1982). The remaining conceptions of melodic accent receive little or no empirical support. In addition, this study reveals an endemic use of text-melody displacement in a sample of Gregorian chant -- suggesting that the chant melodies were constructed so as to avoid strong rhythmic stresses.