I INTRODUCED A Platinum Singer to the Pentatonix - Hallelujah REACTION! W/ @KrizzKalikoOfficial

#pentatonix #pentatonixreaction #reaction

I INTRODUCED A Platinum Singer to the Pentatonix - Hallelujah REACTION!

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[brodee]

Avi, the beard, is the bass. Except for when he's singing his verse. Scott, tall blonde, takes over bass for him.

[lilmissshureshotck]

"Mary Did You Know" is Amazing. Please listen to it next

[SherylandFam]

Kevin, the black guy, is considered a tenor so his singing range is high. But he normally just does the beat boxing. Avi Kaplan, the long-haired guy, is the bass. And when Avi is singing lead, Scott, the blonde guy, sings bass.

[bettygorman]

Their cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” is amazing. I cry each and every time I listen to it.

[margretrosenberg]

The members of #Pentatonix. In this video we have:
• First verse: Tall blond guy, Scott Hoying, lyric baritone. In describing a man's vocal range, "lyric" means that the actual range exceeds the nominal range. In Scott's case, he sings everywhere from about the middle of a normal bass range through a normal tenor range, with an excellent falsetto on top. In live performances Scott typically takes over the bass harmony line when their bass has a solo.
• Second verse: Bearded guy wearing a stocking cap, Avi (pronounced Ah'-vee, emphasis on the first syllable) Kaplan, lyric bass. Avi is an operatically trained basso profundo – his lowest notes have blown out speakers in live performances – but his range extends to somewhere in the middle of a normal tenor range. If this were a live performance you'd be hearing Scott singing the bass line during Avi's solo, but if you listen carefully you can hear the bass starting up during Scott's solo, and the voice doesn't change as it continues into Avi's solo. So what gives? Early on, they decided that when they're recording in the studio for release on an album, it's worth a small cheat to improve the audio quality. The bass records one track with the bass line for the entire song, and a separate track with his solo, which is then layered in over the bass track. And since this is an official video of a song that was released on an album, that's Avi you hear singing bass while he's also soloing in the baritone and tenor parts of his range.
• Third verse: The only woman in Pentatonix, Kirstin (also called Kirstie, which rhymes with thirsty) Maldonado. Kirstin sings everywhere from a low alto through coloratura soprano, the highest female range. And she has fantastic whistle notes on top of that. Lately Pentatonix has begun referring to her as an "alto soprano."
• Fourth verse: Guy wearing a wide-brimmed hat, Mitch Grassi (pronounced Grah'-see, emphasis on the first syllable), natural contratenor. No one is certain whether Mitch can sing higher than Kirstin or Kirstin can sing higher than Mitch; I suspect that it varies from day to day, though everyone agrees that Kirstin has better whistle notes. Mitch is known for his ethereally beautiful (some say "angelic") high vocals. Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men, said Mitch has "one of the prettiest voices I have ever heard in my life." Mitch switches seamlessly from chest voice to mixed voice to head voice. He has a range of just over six octaves. And we call that stunned look people get the first time they realize that the beautiful high voice is coming from a man, "being Mitch slapped." You've just been Mitch slapped. Don't let it worry you; it's happened to all of us, generally more than once because Mitch is full of surprises.
• The fifth member of Pentatonix (PTX for short) is Kevin Olusola (pronounced Oh-loosh"-oh-luh', primary emphasis on the second syllable, secondary emphasis on the fourth), beatboxer extraordinaire. We don't get to hear Kevin sing as often as we'd like because he's generally too busy being the entire percussion section, but when he does sing he has a lovely tenor voice that occasionally descends to the uppermost reaches of a baritone range. He's also known for the beauty of his falsetto, which goes higher than Mitch's and Kirstin's voices. Kevin has perfect pitch. He began piano lessons at age 4, cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. When he was a teenager he performed at Carnegie Hall twice, once on the cello and once on the saxophone. He beatboxes while playing the cello, which he refers to as "celloboxing." He graduated from Yale in 2011 with a pre-med major and had already been accepted to Yale Medical School when he gave up his dream of becoming a surgeon to pursue his dream of becoming a professional beatboxer instead. He speaks five languages fluently: English, French, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. He's one of the kindest people in the world, and when he laughs the whole planet seems like a brighter place.


Avi's replacement joined in either late 2017 or early 2018 (depending on how you figure it) and has now been with Pentatonix longer than Avi was. You'll see him in all of their newer videos:

[NerdyNanaSimulations]

The guy he asked if he was the bass, no, that's Kevin and he's the beatboxer. When he does sing he's a tenor (male soprano). Mitch (he almost sounds like a female) buckle up because he is a counter tenor and goes a WHOLE lot higher than that...lol. When he does that and the reactors mouth drops open we call that a Mitch slap. For hearing Mitch go high... The Prayer, Can you feel the love tonight, and Gold come to mind.

[einahsirro]

PTX cover of "Mad World" is beautiful, and haunting.

[marinaleenders]

The beatboxer is the Black man his name is Kevin, the base singer is avi, the blond guy is Scott, the Girls is kirsten en the smal high voice boy is mitch

[lurchernut]

You will appreciate their sound so much more if you listen with earbuds or earphones 🙂

[MonteWCRareCommentor]

🎉🎈🎤🎶🎶 Great one Brorhers, in all their songs it is 90+% acapella. They are recognized as one of the best at what they do and sale out Arenas. There is some amazing Acapella/Vocal Percussion groups. Beat boxing has come along way, go down the beatboxing and looping rabbit hole, you'll love it...

[nathanielbyrd]

YOU SHOULD REACT TO THEIR COVER OF OH HOLY NIGHT IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND THEY ARE THE CREAM OF THE CROP AAA

[TwylaCastleschouldt]

Mitch Grassi is the one with the hat . His vocal range spans six octaves and one tone, from A1 to B7. Some refer to him as a countertenor . Scott Hoying is the one who started the song and his vocal range is G#1 - A1 - C2 - C#5 - C6 which spans multiple octaves . He is a high baritone but can sing bass when needed. Kirsten is the female and she is known as a mezzo-soprano . Her range spans 4 octaves and is similar to Scott’s with a mix of Eb3-F#5-A5-Bb7. Matt Sallee is their bass singer now after Avi left the group. Matt’s vocal range is G#1-F5 which is about 4 octaves . He is bass/ baritone in the group. Kevin is the beatboxed and he can sing 4-5 octaves . His range is A1-G2-A4-Bb5 . Some refer to him as a tenor and some say he is a baritone .

[margretrosenberg]

Where #Pentatonix came from:

Kirstin, Mitch, and Scott all grew up in Arlington, Texas. All of them were involved with community musical theater as children, and Mitch met both Scott and Kirstin there (separately) when they were still pre-teens, and became friends with each of them. However, Scott and Kirstin didn't meet each other until they were fourteen and in the same high school class. All three were choir geeks (duh), and they quickly became best friends in high school. And if you're wondering what was in the water in Arlington in the early 1990s that three such remarkably talented people should all be born in such proximity, you aren't the only one.

There was some kind of singing contest to meet the stars of _Glee, _ and the three of them wanted to enter, so they formed a trio which they named "The Trio." (I know; not very imaginative. They're somewhat better with that now.) They lost the contest, but they kept The Trio together anyway; they performed at school functions and occasionally on local television. Pentaholics still refer to these three as "the trio, " and the trio is the heart of Pentatonix.

Kirstin and Scott were a year ahead of Mitch; they graduated in 2010, when Mitch was still in eleventh grade, and both went away for their freshman year of college. Kirstin went to the University of Oklahoma (with a full ride scholarship!), and Scott went to the University of Southern Califonia.

Scott is a very outgoing person, so he immediately began looking around for extracurricular activities where he could meet people and make new friends, and he found an award-winning amateur a cappella group named SoCal VoCals, which he joined. While there he met a former member named Ben Bram, who at the time was a coach on NBC's a cappella competition show named _"The Sing-Off."_ A cappella groups would audition for the show, and those that passed appeared throughout the season. There was a panel of three judges, all professional musicians, who would critique each performance. Along the way some groups would be eliminated, narrowing the field, and at the end of the season viewers would be invited to vote on a winner. The winning group would receive $200, 000 and a recording contract with Epic, a minor subsidiary of Sony, the show's sponsor.

Scott was intrigued. He thought The Trio could be competitive, and if they could get a recording contract they could have a career doing what they most loved, with the people they most loved. So he talked to Kirstin, who thought his idea had promise, and at the end of their first year of college the two of them headed back to Arlington to be there for Mitch's graduation and to talk with Mitch about Scott's idea.

Meanwhile, back in Arlington Mitch had been having a very difficult year. His best friends weren't there, and as an out-of-the-closet young gay man with an unusually high voice he was being seriously bullied. And unfortunately, since the bullying was ostensibly for his voice he was quickly developing the notion that there was something wrong with his voice and that no one would want to hear him sing. So when Scott presented his idea Mitch was on board; it was a way to get away from the bullies. He had doubts about his ability to carry his weight in the group, because of the bullying, but he was willing to try, and if Scott and Kirstin said they could win, well, maybe they could.

So with everyone agreed, Scott called Ben Bram to find out how to arrange for an audition, and this is where they met their first setback. _The Sing-Off_ had a size requirement; the minimum size allowed was five. The Trio needed two new members and a new name. They were stumped.

Ben suggested that they'd profit from adding a rhythm section: a bass and a beatboxer, and he knew the perfect person to recommend for the bass, a guy named Avi Kaplan. They talked to Avi, and he was very interested, so that took care of the bass, but where to find the beatboxer? Ben didn't have any suggestions. So in desperation they typed "beatboxer" into a YouTube search box and the first hit they got was a black guy playing a classical piece on the cello and beatboxing at the same time. And all of them said, "Wow! He's the one! How can we get in touch with him?"

They were in luck. At the time YouTube had something called YouTube messages, which would allow private messages between members (now discontinued), so they sent Kevin a private message: "Hey! We really love your stuff, and we wonder if you'd be interested in flying across the country to join four strangers to audition for an a cappella competition show on television?" And Kevin messaged them back: "Normally I'd be there in a heart beat; I love a cappella and have been in a cappella groups before. But right now I'm studying for my final exams for my pre-med major from Yale." Oh. That sounded pretty definite; better keep looking. So they kept looking, and they found someone, but he was no Kevin Olusola. Oh well; you work with what you have.

And two weeks later Kevin messaged them again: "Good news! I just graduated. If the gig's still open I can fly out." He arrived the day before their audition. Mitch had to skip his graduation ceremony to attend the audition. But even with just a day of rehearsal they still passed the audition; they were in.

Oh, yes, the name. Pentatonix is named for the pentatonic scale, which has five (penta) tones just as Pentatonix has five (Penta) singers. In other words, it's a fancier way of saying they're now "The Quintet." 😂

Pentatonix appeared throughout season three of _The Sing-Off, _ and eventually won. (Just FYI, Home Free also got their start on _The Sing-Off;_ they won season 4.) All those performances are available on YouTube and are well worth watching, preferably in order so you can see how they grew throughout the season. Some of them are as good as anything they've done since (which is saying a lot) and are only available in those old videos. (Note: If you decide to react to these, be sure and watch the versions that contain the show's introduction of Pentatonix just before the performance, and the judges' critiques of the performance, and any comments Pentatonix made backstage.)

So, they'd won _The Sing-Off, _ complete with recording contract. Time to move to California permanently and begin recording. And a week later Epic reneged on the contract, saying that they didn't know how to market a cappella. But at this point Pentatonix weren't willing to give up; they *wanted* that career they'd been working toward. So they pooled their winnings and lived frugally. The four men shared two apartments, to cut down on expenses. They arranged music and rehearsed every day, and when they had a song ready they used their iPhones to record themselves anywhere they could find good acoustics, and sometimes in places with acoustics that were just okay. And they posted to YouTube. Their fans from _The Sing-Off_ quickly found them there, and subscribed, and they began to get more views and more subscribers, and to pick up a few patrons. In fact, they were going viral. And Sony noticed, and approached them with an offer: Perhaps Pentatonix would like a recording contract with Madison Gate, another minor subsidiary? Hmmm. 🤔 Would they like a recording contract? Might have to think about that, for a second or two. Darn right they'd like a recording contract!

And then came "Daft Punk" (AKA "Daft Punk Medley" or "Daft Punk Mix"), and Pentatonix won their first Grammy. And again, Sony took notice, and approached Pentatonix: "We've been thinking about it and we believe you might find a better fit with our flagship label, RCA. Are you interested?" They've been with RCA ever since, though I believe they just signed with a new publisher, Republic Records. They go on tours world wide and perform to sold-out venues. They put out at *least* one album a year, frequently more (though it looks like they aren't putting out an album in 2024; I think they've run out of Christmas songs). One album has gone Gold and one has gone Platinum twice. They have three Grammys and recently received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. And they are the only a cappella band to have won so much as *one* Grammy, or to be represented on the Walk of Fame.

The most important part of this story is the fact that Pentatonix began with The Trio, three best friends so close to one another that they might as well be family. And from the very beginning, everyone who has joined with them to form Pentatonix has been incorporated into that family-of-choice. As a family, Pentatonix takes care of all its members. One of the things this means is that everyone gets time in the spotlight.

Pentatonix has no lead singer. Yes, some songs call for a lead, and when that happens Pentatonix chooses the member whose voice best suits the song. This is one way that everyone gets time in the spotlight, and it means that no one is burdened with having to always be the lead. And when songs don't require a lead, Pentatonix frequently has each member solo on one or more verses. The members of Pentatonix are able to set their egos aside because each of them is already receiving as much acclaim as any healthy ego could need. And that leaves them free to concentrate on taking care of both the people they love and the music they love.

This focus on doing whatever is best for the music is, in my opinion, *the* thing that makes Pentatonix greater than the sum of its parts. And their focus on caring for one another is the reason we like them as people, not just as singers.

[mamaasaiz]

Their version of 'Amazing Grace' is great!

[pamcrumpler]

Congratulations. Now you both have been Mitch slapped lol. Mitch is the one with the really high voice. Their fantastic!!!

[SwiftieXinfinity]

Mary Did You Know is the cover they did that introduced me to PTX and modern a cappella groups. Avi Kaplan, was the bass, he’s a solo artist now. There is a 2nd black guy now named Matt, who replaced Avi. Mitch is the high soprano and a fan favorite. They are all phenomenal!! ❤ this rabbit hole runs DEEP!! 😊

[SwiftieXinfinity]

Mary Did You Know is the cover they did that introduced me to PTX and modern a cappella groups. Avi Kaplan, was the bass, he’s a solo artist now. There is a 2nd black guy now named Ma

[cimwandaful]

You want to go to church? There got a song for that! Oh Come All Ye Faithful- w/Avi as bass - goes there and Amazing Grace will take you there too - w/Matt as bass

[navystylz]

This is one of those songs that will be timeless. Never gets old to me.

[scottNNJ]

I’m still not convinced that there are no real drums in this soundtrack. If there’s not, and the sound is all from the singers’ mouths and the stomping of their feet, that is just incredible.