A brief history of Pentatonix They won The Sing Off in 2011. They made a guest starring appearance on America′s Got Talent as non−competitors a couple of years after that. The founding members are:- Scott Hoying (tall blond guy, natural baritone but has an impressive five−to−six octave range, can go all the way up to high tenor and down to bass, sings the bass lines when the usual bass singer takes the lead); Kirstin "Kirstie" (Rhymes with "Thirsty") Maldonado (the only female member, natural mezzo soprano, but can go down to low alto and as high as upper soprano, also can sing in whistle notes that are off the scale); For a time in 2018 between the group’s tours, had the female lead on Broadway in the production of “Kinky Boots”. Mitch Grassi (a true contra−tenor, can hit high notes in his chest voice with ease and go WAY higher in his falsetto, also with ease); Avriel "Avi" Kaplan (dark beard and long hair), true basso profundo, trained as an opera singer, also can go up into the tenor range; and Kevin "KO" Olusola (beatboxer extraordinaire, also is a world−class cellist who plays cello on some of their songs, has a beautiful high tenor voice and gets occasional lead vocal solos as well, graduated pre−med from Yale and speaks several languages including Mandarin Chinese). Kirstie, Scott & Mitch grew up together in Arlington, Texas, and began performing together as children in local youth musical theater. They ended up in high school together and performed in the choir. While there, they formed an a cappella group called The Trio which had several performance videos go viral on KZfaq, most notably a cover of Lady Gaga′s "Telephone". The three of them are best friends and consider themselves to be almost siblings. Scott & Kirstie (who were a class year ahead of Mitch) both graduated high school in 2010 and went their separate ways to different colleges, Scott at USC and Kirstie at Oklahoma. While at USC, Scott joined a USC−based a cappella group called the SoCal VoCals, where he met alumnus Ben Bram, who was now an arranger and vocal coach for the NBC TV show The Sing Off, an a cappella competition show. Ben convinced Scott to get The Trio to audition for the show. The three reunited (Mitch had to skip high school graduation ceremonies to go) in Los Angeles for the audition. They found out that the rules had changed, so they needed at least five members to audition. Ben put them together with Avi (a native of Visalia, California), who he knew from Avi′s performing days at Mount San Antonio College in California. They found Kevin (from Kentucky) through one of his KZfaq videos that had gone viral featuring him playing the cello and beatboxing at the same time, a talent that Kevin coined as "Cello−Boxing". Kevin arrived in Los Angeles literally the day before the audition! Scott came up with the name "Pentatonix" after the pentatonic scale. They performed a re−arrangement of "The Telephone" for the audition and passed, despite having been together as a five−piece group for less that 24 hours! They won The Sing Off that season (all of the performances are available on KZfaq), in which they received a substantial cash prize AND a record contract with Epic Records. They pooled their prize winnings together and all moved to Los Angeles, and all got apartments right next door to each other in the same building. But just a week later, Epic dropped them because the marketing people didn′t think an a cappella group could sell records. Instead of giving up, they were determined and began recording their own songs on KZfaq, hiring Ben Bram as their producer and arranger. These usually consisted of the five of them sitting on a couch and performing cover songs live. Several of the videos went viral, and Sony (the parent company of Epic) decided to give them another chance by placing them on one of their smaller labels, Madison Gate. They released two secular EPs and one Christmas EP on Madison Gate, all of which were strong sellers. But when their cover of a medley of songs by Daft Punk not only went super−viral, but also won them their first Grammy, they were promoted all the way up to RCA Records, Sony′s top label. They began writing and producing their own songs in addition to their covers, began putting out a Christmas album just about annually (which has become their best−selling genre), and have had multi−platinum album sales, sold−out world tours, and have won two additional Grammys. Avi began getting burned out with all of the touring and heavy recording schedule, was suffering from anxiety and personal problems, and learned that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He announced he was departing from the group and taking some time away from the music industry. Matt Sallee (from Baltimore) joined them in September 2017. He did only become official when they renewed their RCA contract in February 2018, but he recorded with them in September as a featured artist and went on their Christmas tour as a featured artist, as well. When he attended the audition for the group, he had already mastered the Bass part for most if not all their past catalogue. He was successful and has proved that he fits in well with the group. If you think there have been other changes to the line up - look again. This is the ONLY change. Kirstie and Mitch are like chameleons and change looks frequently. It is an often debated subject among the Pentaholics as to just how soon we introduce the "Beginners Guide" as we don't want to overdo the introduction. This is a compilation of snips of a whole load of songs which PTX have released. It highlights each member with some of their solos and then a brief history in video. It is quite long - 14+ minutes and is a little dated now (Feb 2020) but is a good watch kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oqqofMmoy6nRgXk.html&pp=ygUdYmVnaW5uZXJzIGd1aWRlIHRvIHBlbnRhdG9uaXg%3D. After a year away from music, Avi has now returned as a phenomenal solo artist in the Folk/Americana/Roots genre. Ben Bram has been in charge of their production, including arranging and directing from the beginning. He is often referred to as the sixth member. Scott and Kevin are major players in the arrangements, but every member contributes. A good watch is "The Recording of Evergreen" where a camera was invited into the studio for the second week of recording/ Also, all members are songwriters for both Pentatonix and their own solo work. Ed Boyer who mixes everything of theirs (even the HWB Livestream) is the one who pulled Ben Bram into the sing off in the first place. They have Grammy wins for Daft Punk Medley, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jolene featuring Dolly Parton. They were nominated for a 4th Grammy for their album Evergreen, but didn't win. Another nomination for Holidays Around the World album in the 2024 list! Kirstie became a new mum which caused a pause in touring after their Evergreen Christmas tour 2021. Mid March 2023 Kirstie has announced that she is engaged to Ben Hausdorff, their videographer. No dates YET! They have a star on the Hollywood walk of fame installed in February 2023. They are the only a capella group with a star! They came 3rd in the 2023 Masked Singer performing as "California Rolls" being unmasked in May 23. Things you need to know because if you get these wrong Pentaholics will come after you with pitch forks and torches! Ha Ha!! 1- There is NO Auto-Tune; what you hear is actually what they sing. They really are that good. One exception is the 90's Dance Medley where Cher used autotune as an effect - so they had to. 2- What produces everything that you hear in the video, you see in the official video. If there is an instrument used in the music, you see it on screen. In the 2022 Christmas album, there are some instruments not featured throughout the album. 3- They never release something on video they can’t reproduce with the exact same quality live on-stage. 4. It is "Pentatonix" - There is no "The".

I have been to two Christmas shows of theirs, both in Northern California (central valley/Bay Area) I’ve also gone to a summer show this year. They had a world tour 2023, the were in the UK this summer. Their Christmas tours tend to be US or at least North America usually because that way they still can enjoy the holidays with their families. Their concerts are unreal. It’s such an amazing experience. I’m literally wearing merch from the last show (which I bought, after meeting Scott’s in laws in line, we all bought the same sweatshirt and then took a pic together), they were the sweetest!

Mitch changes his looks like a chameleon. You can listen to Avi Kaplan in The First Noel. You will also see how different Mitch looks here

That’s the magic of Pentatonix they are all superb singers that could make it solo, but they’re magical together. They don’t have a lead singer. The have the trio who each can lead or share the lead, but also Kevin and Matt can take over lead, Scott can take over for Matt/Avi but no one takes over for Kev, so usually he only sings when it’s a 5 part harmony song. The only change in the group was from Avi to Matt. Everyone else has been there since the beginning.

Y’all gotta check out their cover of Kiss From A Rose! One of their best covers hands down. I’ve been a fan since The Sing Off so I was around when this premiered! I’ve never been to one of their Christmas concerts but I’ve been to 4 or 5 regular concerts of theirs, from 2012-2018.

Commonly known as "Breathe Mitch, Breathe"

You guys should look at their live performance of this masterpiece. Their live performance is just as good or even better than the studio version🤯

Often refered to as the breathe Mitch breathe song😊

Yes! I was listening to them when this was released! I first saw them when they were on Season 3 of The Sing-Off on NBC in 2011. The Sing-Off was an American Acapella Competition TV show that had judges and the public also voted for their favorite group after performances. Pentatonix won Season 3. A very short summary of Pentatonix's beginnings is that the 3 members who usually sing the lyrical parts of the songs (Mitch, Scott and Kirstie) grew up in Arlington, Texas and knew each other from Musical Theater and school as children. In High School they were "choir nerds" and specifically became good friends. They formed an acapella group called "The Trio" and started putting up KZfaq videos. When Mitch was still in high school and Scott and Kirstie were in college a friend of Scott's (Ben Bram) told him he should get his old trio back together, add a bass and beat boxer and audition for the Sing-Off. Scott and Ben set out to do just that. The first time all 5 sang together in person was the morning of their audition for the show. Three of the 5 members left college for the show and Mitch missed his high-school graduation. Kevin (the beat-boxer) left his pre-med studies at Yale University. Ben Bram has always been working with the group and is considered to be the 6th member. To see them working with each other and with Ben you should react to "The Recording of Evergreen" on KZfaq! It is only a few Christmases old and shows selected clips of them in studio recording and arranging their Evergreen Christmas album. It's about 20 minutes long. Fans LOVE watching people react to that! Reactors really enjoy it too! Thank you for the reaction videos! I'm loving them! Merry Christmas!

You asked today about people singing what they do...PTX does covers (what we all call upgrades from the original) and their own original songs. They also release sheet music for songs they have "covered" for some of the songs. You will see other accapella groups and choirs have done them. As for others like them...fans of Pentatonix (PTX) are called pentaholics...then there is HomeFree (Homefries), VoicePlay - just goggle Accapella groups...and the top ones show up. I have listened to the others music, but I am a pentaholic so I tend to stick with their music. You also were asking about -- "Pentatonic Scale Theory - The five notes of the major pentatonic scale are the root, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th degrees of the major scale (the 4th and 7th scale degrees are left out)" for piano and guitar...

❤ In some songs they practice where to breath for each of them to avoid dead air I believe Mitch can also circular breathe meaning he can breath and sing together On this video they were looking for a waterfall Did not find it They set up shop and dug a hole for Scott to stand in so he would not be too tall Scott is way taller than Avi, Mitch and Kirstie It you watch when they pan out they do t show feet 😂 Originals that are good include Sing, Happy Now, Be My Eyes, Run to You You would also like Oh Come All Ye Faithful it is always Christmas for PTX fans

Some groups (usually amateurs, but not always) have indeed covered Pentatonix songs. What that almost always means is that they use the Pentatonix arrangement for the song. One of the most covered PTX songs is probably White Winter Hymnal, because the hand movements that Pentatonix used when covering the song originally are pretty unique and also pretty difficult to copy without messing up, so it's always a testament to the performers if they manage to do it correctly. As for the breathing (or lack thereof) - remember that this is a music video, where the members are lip-synching the audio from the studio recording. So camera cuts can hide views of people breathing, and cuts in the original recordings can hide the sound of people breathing in the audio. If you watch the PTX video called The Recording of Evergreen, it shows BTS video of them recording their album Evergreen, and you can see that they actually record in very small segments, usually only a phrase or two at a time, so you won't hear any breathing unless they want you to. You can also see how fast they can record an album - 14 songs in 14 days! That said, watching PTX perform this song LIVE gives you almost the same impression as the video - Mitch seems to sing entire verses without breathing, even when you're watching for him to do it! White Winter Hymnal: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pZdgl9WDrpm6gWQ.html Recording of Evergreen: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g5xghq580LewoaM.html Carol of the Bells live: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gNqDaJuEqp6scZs.html

Mitch is an original member he just looks different in practically every video. The girl Kirstin or Kirstie, rhymes with thirsty, changes a lot also. Lots of different hair colors. 😂 Avi is the only one who left the group. In answer to one of your questions. They do start with the percussion then add the bass. Next comes the backup melody then the lead vocal. There is no main lead singer. They chose the person that best suits the song. Yes I watched this when it first came out. I’ve been watching them since their very first performance. I personally call this one…WHEN THE HELL DOES MITCH BREATHE? I can’t wait until your next PTX reaction. I will tell you though, I only watch reactions to PTX, Disturbed, unless you’ve already heard it “The Sound of Silence” is a good one to start with there, although not their usual style as they’re a metal band, it will seriously blow your mind. and Guy Sebastian, well I’ll recommend some stuff by him later. They’ve performed ALL over the world, definitely including the U.K. They were just there this year. I, unfortunately have never been to one of their concerts 😭 due to health issues I cannot be in large crowds. I live vicariously through other’s videos (which there are many 100’s of) and their live streams. Once again…Greetings from Southern California. 🤗💋🥰

Another amazing song. They like 5 angel's with magical voices. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Merry Christmas guys . Wish you all the best 🎁🎉🍾🤩❤️

Merry Christmas! Thank you for this reaction!

Merry Christmas brothers love your fellow reactor god bless you both 🙏 😊

Merry Christmas gentlemen!! 🎅🤶👼🌲🎄🎁❄☃⛄ Your reactions are always entertaining and so much fun to watch 😃Looking forward to watching you in 2024! 🎆🎇

Love this version! Some have nicknamed it "When does Mitch Breathe?"

I just subscribed because I love your PTX reactions ❤ I will check out others too 😊

Please watch Pentatonix The Recording of Evergreen - it will give you an in site into how they do what they do - thanks for the review

The best cover of this song that I have heard is one by five cellos P T X style Even that isn't as awesome as P T X's

I have seen large choirs n groups trying to do the Daft Punk Medley but so far, none very succesful.