Inmusical composition, asound mass orsound collective is the result ofcompositional techniques, in which "the importance of individualpitches" is minimized "in preference fortexture,timbre, anddynamics as primary shapers of gesture and impact", obscuring "the boundary betweensound andnoise".^[2]

Techniques which may create or be used with sound mass includeextended techniques such as muted brass or strings,flutter tonguing, wide vibrato, extreme ranges, and glissandos as the continuum for "sound mass" moves from simultaneously sounding notes – clusters etc., towards stochastic cloud textures, and 'mass structure' compositional textures which evolve over time.^[2] In a sound mass, "the traditional concept of 'chord' or vertical 'event' [is] replaced by a shifting, iridescent fabric of sound".^[3]

The use of "chords approaching timbres" begins withDebussy, andEdgard Varèse often carefully scored individual instrumental parts so that they would fuse into oneensemble timbre or sound mass.^[4] Explored byCharles Ives andHenry Cowell in the early part of the twentieth century, this technique also developed from themodernisttone clusters and spread to orchestral writing by the mid 1950s and 1960s.^[2] "Unlike most tonal and non-tonal linear dissonances, tone clusters are essentially static. The individual pitches are of secondary importance; it is the sound mass that is foremost."^[5] One French composer active in this period whose music takes a sound-mass approach directly influenced by both Debussy and Varèse isMaurice Ohana.^[6]

Examples can be found inMetastasis (1953–54),Pithoprakta (1955–56), andAchorripsis (1956–57), all orchestral works byIannis Xenakis,^[7] as well as inGesang der Jünglinge for concrete and electronic sounds (1955–56),Zeitmaße for five woodwinds (1955–56), andGruppen for three orchestras (1955–57), byKarlheinz Stockhausen.^[8] Other composers and works includeBarbara Kolb,Pauline Oliveros'Sound Patterns for chorus (1961),Norma Beecroft'sFrom Dreams of Brass for chorus (1963–64), andNancy Van de Vate. Beecroft "blurs individual pitches in favor of a collective timbre through the use of vocal and instrumental clusters, choral speech, narrator, and a wash of sounds from an electronic tape".^[2]

A very early example is the opening ofJean-Féry Rebel's balletLes Elémens (1737–38), where chaos is represented by a gradually cumulating orchestral cluster of all seven notes of the D minor scale.^[9] A later example is the third movement ofRuth Crawford Seeger'sString Quartet 1931^{[10][citation needed]} while more recentlyPhill Niblock's multipledrone based music serves as an example.^[11]

Other examples include European "textural" compositions of the fifties and sixties such asKrzysztof Penderecki'sThrenody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1959) andGyörgy Ligeti's works featuringmicropolyphony in works likeAtmosphères (1961) and hisRequiem (1963–65).^[12] Other composers with works using this technique includeHenryk Górecki,Karel Husa,Witold Lutosławski,Kazimierz Serocki,Steven Stucky, andGeorge Crumb.^[12] Sound-mass techniques also appear in the music ofMonic Cecconi-Botella^[13] andHarry Freedman.^[14]

• Timbre recognition
• Timbral listening
• Spectral music
• Sonorism

• Kohl, Jerome (2017).Karlheinz Stockhausen: Zeitmaße. Landmarks in Music Since 1950, edited by Wyndham Thomas. Abingdon, Oxon; London; New York: Routledge.ISBN 978-0-7546-5334-9.
• Kokoras, Panayiotis (2005).Towards a Holophonic Musical Texture. In proceedings of the ICMC2005 –International Computer Music Conference. Barcelona, Spain.
• Xenakis, Iannis (1992).Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition, second, expanded edition. Harmonologia Series No. 6. Stuyvesant, New York: Pendragon Press.ISBN 1-57647-079-2. Reprinted, Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2001.

• Modernism (music)
• Musical texture
• Timbre

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