PENTATONIX-by Catalina Pelaez

PENTATONIX

Hi! Today I’m going to talk about a musical group I discovered in YouTube last summer.

WHAT IS PENTATONIX?

Pentatonix (better known as PTX) is an American a cappella group formed by five singers. They do covers of famous pop songs, and some of their arrangements are medleys, but most of them are original material. They combine pop, electro, reggae, hip hop, dubstep, classical music and jazz in their covers, defined by solid low bass voices and also vocal percussion. 

The name of the group comes from the pentatonic scale, a musical scale with five notes. Pentatonix believed that the scale's five notes matched their membership, and the replaced the last letter an 'x' to make it more appealing.

WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP?

SCOTT HOYING

Scott has been performing as a pianist and singer since he was eight. He is also a songwriter.  When he graduated from Martin High School that is in Arlington, TX, he joined the SoCal VoCals, a very popular campus a cappella group.  Since then, he has been involved in a lot of musical projects, and he has been finalist on CBS’ Star Search, also performing the National Anthem and “God Bless America” in a lot of professional and collegiate events, even home games from the Texas Rangers Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks. In the quintet, he is the baritone lead and also sometimes he does the backing vocals. 







MITCH GRASSI

Mitch is the youngest member of Pentatonix (he has recently graduated in high school). He immersed himself in music theater in Arlington, Texas. He really likes electronic music and underground clubs, and he’s currently honing his skills in DJ-ing and production. He’s a veteran of many talent competitions, and he took first place at the Teen Talent Follies with his version of “Kiss the Air”, by Scott Alan.

In the quintet, he is the countertenor lead and he does the backing vocals. 

Kirstin is a National Hispanic Scholar and, before joining Pentatonix, she studied music theater at the University of Oklahoma. During eight years, she was touring with Theatre Arlington, where she developed her performance and vocal skills and learning how to sing eight-part harmonies. She began her classical training when she was in high school and she was a member of the Texas All State Choir for three years. She held numerous roles in local stage productions, performing at shows around the Metroplex, including places like Bass Hall and Casa Manana. 

In the quintet, she is the mezzo-soprano lead and she does also the backing vocals.








AVI KAPLAN

Avi is a classical music student and guitarist who also composes and arranges music for choral and a cappella. He went to Mt. San Antonio College, well known worldwide for their strong choral and a cappella tradition. He joined an a cappella group called Fermata Nowhere in 2008, that became the first community college a cappella participant to win the prestigious ICCA. Avi won the competition’s award for “Best Rhythm Section,” the first year that this award had ever included a vocal bass. Three years later from entering at Mt. San Antonio, he joined Sincopation, an award-winning jazz ensemble that won the Monterey Jazz Festival Competition in his first year. Avi has performed at venues worldwide, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. 

In Pentatonix, he is the bass lead and he does the backing vocals. 

KEVIN OLUSOLA

Kevin began to play piano, cello and saxophone at an early age. He performed at Carnegie Hall twice as soloist on the cello and saxophone and has appeared on NPR’s “From The Top."  When he finished high school at Phillips Academy Andover, he went to Yale University where he was pre-med and majored in East Asian Studies.  He spent 18 months in Beijing becoming fluent in Chinese as a part of his Yale fellowship. When he was in college, he started developing his “celloboxing” skills, and he won a second place in 2009 in the “Celebrate and Collaborate with Yo-Yo Ma” international competition. In 2012, he was hand-chosen by Quincy Jones to represent him in concert at the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival alongside Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea. In Pentatonix, Kevin makes the vocal percussion and backing vocals, and in some of the covers he plays the cello. 
 

HOW WAS THE GROUP FORMED?
The group began with three friend that grew together at Mr. High School in Arlignton, Texas; Kirstin, Mitch and Scott. The heard that a local radio was hosting a competition to meet the cast of Glee, and with trio-version-arrangement of the song “Telephone”, they participated. They didn’t win the competition, but they sparked the attention around their school, and there, they began performing as a cappella group. Their version of “Telephone” gained attention on YouTube, and they continued performing.
Scott and Kirstie graduated in 2010, and Scott in 2011. Then, each one went on their way. But, one day, Scott, that was on the University of Southern California, heard about “the Sing-Off”, and he was encouraged to participate. So, then, Scott persuaded Kirstie and Mitch to join him, but the show required four members at least. Scott met, a few days later, Avriel Kaplan, who was a recognized vocal bass. Then, the trio found Kevin on YouTube, where they saw one of his videos in which he was “celloboxing”; beatboxing and playing the cello.
The group met the day before the beginning of the auditions for the third season of “The Sing-Off”. They successfully auditioned for the show and they won the first place on the competition.
From that they on, they continued to arrange, create and perform new music. Their main group is to become the first mainstream a cappella group in recent times.
PENTATONIX’S DISCOGRAPHY
Pentatonix has recorded a few albums; PTX vols I, II and III, and their more recent one, “That’s Christmas To Me
APPEARANCES AND PRESENTATIONS
Pentatonix introduced, at the 2014 American Music Awards, a performance by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. They were also part of the "YouTube Rewind 2014" video as one of the most subscribed YouTube music channels.

MOVIES

Pentatonix has a role in the upcoming Pitch Perfect 2 movie, that’s going to release in the spring of 2015. In the sequel, they play a role as competitors of the Barden Bellas.
PENTATONIX ON INTERNET 
At present, Pentatonix has more that 6.7 million subscribers on YouTube (besting Beyoncé and Avicii) and 650 million cumulative views.

Their most popular covers are the Daft Punk mash up that has 103 million views, (you can find it in this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MteSlpxCpo), as well as the “Evolution Of Music,” a 4 minute, 36-song live journey through the history of music that has more than 49 million views (cover that you can find if you click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lExW80sXsHs) .The group’s cover collaboration with Lindsey Stirling for Imagine Dragon’s “Radioactive” has more than 97 million views, and they won the “Best Response Video” category at the inaugural YouTube Music Awards on November, 2013.  The group also has more than 1.7 million Facebook fans, over 400,000 Twitter followers, and 281,000 Instagram followers.