There are two different interpretations of that marking in common use. In older music, it is used rarely, but can indeed mean a louder accent. In much modern music (jazz/rock/funk/etc), however, it is used very commonly, and doesn't mean louder than a standard accent, but rather, shorter. MuseScore had to pick one of the two interpretations to use, so we went with the one used in the genres where the marking is actually common, rather than the interpretation used in genres where it is more rare.
From Wikipedia: Accented notes can be notated sforzando, sforzato, forzando or forzato (abbreviated sfz, sf, or fz) ("forcing" or "forced"), or using the sign >, placed above or below the head of the note.
Quite old post I know, not sure if you are going to read this but I am wondering if these articulation names shown in mscx are the whole set or if there are more defined names for soft version of articulations which in musescore are encased in "<>" and other symbols like this
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For piano, the simplest way to reduce the volume of the accent note is to just reduce its velocity (that of the note itself, not the accent) in the Inspector. You can do this for as many notes at a time as you like, provided you make sure you literally have only notes selected (eg, click the Notes button in the Inspector after selecting a range).
For wind and string other instruments, I suspect you'll find the accent is not too loud, it's actually very subtle, a slight push on the attack then immediately decreasing in volume again - very natural-sounding. It's only the instruments that don't support single note dynamics where it seems so harsh, and even then, really only the ones in which the increase in velocity also triggers a more percussive sample to be played.
Comments
There are two different interpretations of that marking in common use. In older music, it is used rarely, but can indeed mean a louder accent. In much modern music (jazz/rock/funk/etc), however, it is used very commonly, and doesn't mean louder than a standard accent, but rather, shorter. MuseScore had to pick one of the two interpretations to use, so we went with the one used in the genres where the marking is actually common, rather than the interpretation used in genres where it is more rare.
In reply to There are two different… by Marc Sabatella
However, while changing this, they also overlooked that the standard accent (>) isn't actually that strong :)
In reply to There are two different… by Marc Sabatella
Is there a way to change the volume of the accent?
In reply to Is there a way to change the… by SLJK
@SLJK wrote > Is there a way to change the volume of the accent?
I was wondering the same recently.
Can we govern the impact of an accent ... by percent, or by x velocity?
scorster
In reply to @SLJK wrote > Is there a… by scorster
Via the Piano Roll Editor
Or by editing the mscx file (inside the mscz), there you'll find, per instrument, something like this:
In reply to Via the Piano Roll Editor by Jojo-Schmitz
what is a sforzato?
In reply to what is a sforzato? by SLJK
From Wikipedia:
Accented notes can be notated sforzando, sforzato, forzando or forzato (abbreviated sfz, sf, or fz) ("forcing" or "forced"), or using the sign >, placed above or below the head of the note.
In reply to From Wikipedia: Accented… by DanielR
oh thx
In reply to what is a sforzato? by SLJK
sforzato (accent) = >
In reply to Via the Piano Roll Editor by Jojo-Schmitz
where is the "mcsz file"?
In reply to where is the "mcsz file"? by SLJK
huh? You mean mscx? Inside the mscz (which is a ZIP archive)
In reply to huh? by Jojo-Schmitz
You wrote 'Or by editing the mscz file, there you can see a line like this:'
In reply to You wrote 'Or by editing the… by SLJK
I wrote "mscx file", not mscz nor mcsz
In reply to I wrote "mscx file". by Jojo-Schmitz
oh sorry
In reply to Via the Piano Roll Editor by Jojo-Schmitz
Quite old post I know, not sure if you are going to read this but I am wondering if these articulation names shown in mscx are the whole set or if there are more defined names for soft version of articulations which in musescore are encased in "<>" and other symbols like this .
Thanks in advance.
In reply to Quite old post I know, not… by Omicronrg9
I don't think so. Although this might have changed with Mu4
In reply to Is there a way to change the… by SLJK
For piano, the simplest way to reduce the volume of the accent note is to just reduce its velocity (that of the note itself, not the accent) in the Inspector. You can do this for as many notes at a time as you like, provided you make sure you literally have only notes selected (eg, click the Notes button in the Inspector after selecting a range).
For wind and string other instruments, I suspect you'll find the accent is not too loud, it's actually very subtle, a slight push on the attack then immediately decreasing in volume again - very natural-sounding. It's only the instruments that don't support single note dynamics where it seems so harsh, and even then, really only the ones in which the increase in velocity also triggers a more percussive sample to be played.
See #301872: Request for ability to customize playback of marcato to make it louder instead of shorter than sforzato