Accent
The stress which recurs at regular intervals of time. Its position is indicated by upright strokes called bars. The first note inside a bar is always accented. When the bars contain more than one group of notes, which happens in compound time, other accents of lesser force occur on the first note of each group; these are called secondary or subordinate accents, whilst that just inside the bar is termed the primary or principal accent. Other accents can be produced at any point by the use of the sign or sf. The throwing of the accent on a normally unaccented portion of the bar is called syncopation. A proper grouping of accents will produce rhythm. It is considered a fault if an accented musical note falls on a short syllable.