simple question

[pies]

what is the proper term for a horizontal accent (the ">" above single notes)?

[pianistimo]

duh.  accent?  or is this a trick question?

[pies]

isn't there a italian/french/foreign term for it?

[pianistimo]

marcato? coll arco?  i don't know.  i think that in italian they have all kinds of terms - but the type of accent you play widely varies with the time period and the composer.

i used to think those sfz's in beethoven were crashing.  so everytime i came to one - pow.  now, i realize (after listening to a lot of choral music) that you use them incontext.  i mean if you are in a passage that is mp and you have sfz suddenly come up - it is within the context of what is before and after.  makes it much more refined.

now with coll arco - you have a bowing of the violin vs staccato or marcato.

marcato can be the straight line - right?  so you can play a little less staccato - or you can play coll arco - which is giving more emphasis to the 'line.'  so it's more intensified rather than lightly staccato.

as i see it - these symbols are relatively stale without a context.