How to play accents at beginning for measure on piano?

Question

According to what I know, the first beat has an accent on it.

What if the score indicates explicitly an accent? Is that note supposed to be much more accentuated than usual?

Answer 1

Yes, you should bring out that note if it's explicitly accentuated. But not always much more. It depends on the piece and the phrase. There is always nuance. I cannot describe this in text. You need to listen to good recordings, listen to master classes to build a good taste.

Answer 2

Yes, we normally know where 'one' is by it getting a little extra stress. Lots of exceptions though The 'back-beat' in much popular music stresses beats 2 and 4. Reggae stresses beat 3.

Yes, an accent means 'give it a bit more than it would have got'. All in context.