Accent
n. the distinct emphasis given to a moment in time.
Accent is the term used to mark the impact of a given moment or beat. Accents are experienced as heaviness or lightness and add novelty relative to the surrounding moments. Most accents are experienced as augmentation; they add weight to the anticipated moment in time, although accents of diminution are also possible. A moment of surprise or shock will create a weightiness that is more than was expected. It defies expectation by addition. A moment of disappointment or betrayal may leave the actor feeling empty or breathless, defying expectation by subtraction.
Accents can be agogic, dynamic, timbre, harmonic, rhetorical, somatic, etc. or in any combination of the above.
Dynamic accent: make something noticeably louder/softer
Timbre accent: a sudden change in the sound quality
A moment that is intentionally brought out of the surrounding “grid” of unaccented moments… accent is understood in contrast to these other moments. A heaviness in surrounding lightnesses, or the inverse.
see Agogics