Musician Reacts to Pentatonix - Silent Night (Live)  

I recommend watching the making of Evergreen. It gives a great insight into their creative process.

Avi is a classically trained singer with an impressive 5+ octave range. Interesting to note. Avi was doing his European part of his 2022 concerts and was asked to perform two songs from his repertoire for 7Layers Sessions. He was in The Netherlands and he met them at an ancient church in a little chapel. Just as in this PTX video, the ancient chapel had reverbs for miles and Avi, with all of his resonance, sounded stunning. Avi Kaplan with his guitar. All Is Well (Kaplan, Williams) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sNjbAAjF4Tg.html

Avi did not want to leave PTX. He had a complete breakdown and it took him years to recover. He wrote a lot of healing music while he was healing and is now fully aware of what his body, mind and soul can handle and refuses to be pushed by any other entity to do it their way. He sets his writing schedule. He sets aside time for the 9 day A Capella youth choir he founded. He sets his tour dates. He no longer allows anyone else to participate in those decisions. Is he still making millions? No. Is that ok with him? Yes. He bought his cabin while he was still with PTX. It sits on about a 1000 acres of mountainous, heavily forested land and he spends a great deal of time there. He hikes, writes and remains calm in that environment. He is not a real social animal. He like quiet and peace.

If you love Avi’s voice, then you will surely love his solo catalog. His music is primarily folk with a little country mix on some songs. Check out his first single after “Change on the Rise” after leaving PTX. His song The Summit shows both his low and high range.

Three of them went to the same high school at the same time....Scott, Mitch and Kirstin The odds of that happening again and leading to an amazing, ground breaking group....I have a better chance at winning the lottery than witnessing that.

Scott is the one that does the low notes when Avi is singing

There is a live version of Carol of the Bells from the ‘Christmas Under the Stars’ concert. That’s from a couple years ago, so it has Matt instead of Avi (the official music video has Avi). If you wanted to do a double feature, none of us would object, I promise. 😇 Carol of the Bells is one that many people need to see live. It’s absolutely incredible!

😀👉Actually Kevin is doing the HIGH notes along with Mitch until Scott and Kirstie join in the high notes. Scott has an INSANE vocal range Yes he is the baritone but takes over the bass when Avi or Matt have a singing lead. He just as easily gets way up HIGH with Mitc, Kirstie and Kevin when needed. Kirstie is a mezzo soprano or alto (which ever is needed). Though Kevin can hit extremely low beatbox notes he is a beautiful tenor by nature, and can hit very high notes. In some songs when certain high notes are sung it's assumed that it is mitch but it could easily be Scott, Kirstie or Kevin. When we pay close attention we'll see who is doing what

When Kirstie or Mitch are singing solo lines, it's (usually) not too difficult to tell them apart - but put them into harmony together, and it's a completely different story. There are even a couple of songs where I think they deliberately try to sound like each other, and if you don't have the visual cues, it can be pretty difficult to tell who's singing what part. Let It Go is a perfect example of that - there's no official video, so you're dependent entirely on audio, and Kirstie and Mitch switch off the lead throughout the song, but not always in places where you expect them to.

Avo isnt just a basso profundo or bass line. His solo music is so diverse and he plays several instruments. He composes, arranges and mostly does his own layered harmonies. Change on the Rise, When I'm a Fool live at Sunset Sound which is a jam. Then b/w video of I'm only getting started and All is Well 7 layer sessions recorded in a church in the Netherlands. Please try Youll like his band and his studio musicians.

Others have pointed out that its Avi that is providing the low notes - Kevin has a lovely high tenor voice. I understand that it was Avi who arranged this version. They really are very talented - each brought something special to the mix. Avi has recently release an ep 'Live at Sunset Sound' which features a very talented group of musicians - 'When I'm a Fool' is definitely the stand out track. If you are wanting to react more to bands, you will find plenty to like here.

Yea! More PTX! Loving it! They refer to themselves as a band, so it will work with your plans 😊 Their catalog runs deep and crosses all genres. Their covers are great and their original music is even better. So many to recommend. Sound of Silence, Daft Punk, Bohemian Rhapsody, Love Again, Coffee in Bed, Gold, The Prayer, Amazing Grace are just some of many that come to mind. Scott has recently released some solo work that is just wonderful! He is an amazing songwriter. His song, Mars, (the choir version) will melt your brain cells. The choir version is a live performance. He just released another called Parallel which is stunning, too. Avi's solo work is very special. His album, Floating On a Dream, is beautiful. Every song on it is amazing. I call Avi's music soul healing. Thanks for your reactions. Really enjoying them!

You should definitely check out their newer version of “Silent Night” w/the King Singers, it’s a masterpiece and also their “Love Came on Christmas/Joy to the World” performed w/an African Choir, its one of my all time favorites from them! Those two songs are spectacular arrangements and full on pleasures to listen to, these two songs are off of their Christmas Around the World album. Their aren’t any videos, but the audio is well worth the listen:-) The “Love came on Christmas” was written by (Kevin, Scott and Matt), and they merged it with Joy to the World, they talked about how they were playing around with the melody one day together and Kevin started using an African beat, Scott and Matt were excited w/the organic direction it took and spoke abt how it was one of their favorite arrangements.

Subscribed for more Pentatonix. Actually, Kevin has a fine tenor voice. Scott, however, can do bass. Recommend their cover of Sound Of Silence.

Mitch, Scott and Kristen have been friends since they were kids/teens (don't remember their age when they became friends).

👍 Great reaction. 🖖 ❤

Great reaction! Not many reactors find this one, so it's a bonus when someone with the musical chops to be able to dissect how the group is singing this wonderful little masterpiece that they did while on tour using a cathedral's own echo to provide the extra sound they wanted. I think it was done in a cathedral in Germany. I really hope you do more analysis of PTX's pieces, new and old.

Scott is the other low voice....his range is insane. Mist of them have huge ranges! I have never heard Kevin sing low though. He has a high voice. Try Mary did you know to hear Kevin sing a solo.

So beautiful. ❤ looking forward to more .

I have listened to this song a gazillion times and watched other musicians' reactions to it. I do have a musical background, so I may have noticed it, but it didn't click until you said that at the end, they drop out one at a time. No other reaction video that I have watched has mentioned that. Thank you for bringing that up. :)

Great reaction! If you want to hear them do instruments with their voices do Bohemian Rhapsody 😊. For movie reactions (and music reaction), would you consider doing Encanto?

Let me say to start with that I really enjoy your reactions to PTX, even if at times you seem critical. I don't see it as critical, it is asking responsible questions, that some people don't want asked, because it could interfere with how they see things. I find it refreshing. I do remember there was a question you had asked about I think it was Kevin's beatboxing, or Avi's low notes, I don't remember exactly which, and I don't remember exactly what song. But I want to say when the comments said check the live version, they meant the live version of that song. Which you should be able to find a live version of whatever it was, as there are a lot of fan cams being posted lately, on top of the official concert video. If not, remind me, and I'll see if I can't find it. Now I also want to say you were asking about layering, and yes in the studio versions you will find some layering, to make it sound more full, but it is still their natural voice, not some computer program that corrects problems. There are some other production techniques used from time to time, and in I think the last two or three albums they have experimented with other computer generated sounds and effects, but that is only in the most recent albums. Just to add, you mentioned soemtmes it's hard to tell who that specific voice belongs to, I have listened to PTX for right at two years, and have heard everythiing they have done, multiple times, and at times I still can't tell. But, at the same time, there is times when they are all singing, and you hear that one voice, and it sounds like one person singing, not 4 or 5, but if you listen, you can still pick out each individual person. It goes against what should be the situation, but this group manages to do it. I just remembered you asking this question, and I know you said you wanted to move away from mainly a cappella groups into more bands, but go back and watch "The Sing Off Season 3", that PTX competed on. Mainly the very first episode, where they sang Katy Perry's ET. What I want you to do is to pay attention to Avi, and Kevin, and remember that when they took the stage that night, they had only met Kevin in person something like 30 hours earlier. I may be wrong on that exact amount of time. But he got to L.A. either Saturday or Sunday, and they took the stage on Monday. What how coordinated those two are, and how they play off each other. That is what is really amazing. Then, when Matt comes in, him and Kevin have the same level of coordination. But Matt had been a fan of PTX since high school (yes he is that much younger than everyone else) when PTX played a school special at Matt's high school, and Mitch borrowed Matt's sunglasses for the concert, just walked up and took them off his head, the video is on YT somewhere, and he already knew every one of PTX's songs by heart. He went through a whole round of auditions in a nationwide search, starting with a lot of guys, and only found out it was for PTX, when the last 3 (I think) had an in-person audition with PTX. Keep up the good work

I suspect the "Christmas Special" that was suggested was the 2016 Christmas Special of Hallelujah which I think is even better than the official video which you reacted to earlier. However this Silent Night is also a favourite and I really enjoyed your reaction. For originals I also think you should watch the Popspring 2016 concert which is outstanding.

If its a really high note, 99% of the time its mitch. You should react to his solo video covering billie eilish "your power" and youll see some of his high notes as a contratenor, meaning his natural vocal range reaches into the soprano.scott and kevin use falsetto to hit high notes and you can see the strain, even kirsty can be seen straining a bit to hit a high note. However mitch can hit them all effortlessly.

I looooove great a capella, especially the bass. It's so fascinating as a sound to me, ever since I was a kid I kinda wished I could sing like a dude 😂 But alas, I'm just an alto 😂

I wonder if they just arranged this on the fly and just went with it. How many times did they do this song to pick the best one? Did they sing this or part of this in several different places to get the right spot in the chapel?

Avi is hitting the low notes, not Kevin.

Just so you know, Kevin doesn’t sing any low notes. Kevin sings high. Scott is the one that can switch off with Avi. Scott can sing almost as low as Avi. Kevin, NOPE!