Pentatonix Talking About Their Voices

I'm going to introduce the band really quickly before we move along the baseliner hearing is our baseman matzely over here we have our Queen Alto soprano Kirsten Maldonado everyone over here is the one and only Mitchell graciar Channel [Applause] and then I think that we need a beat give it up our beatbox sir KO y'all uh Cassie what would you define your role as in the group um well I'm the only girl but I fill out kind of the higher harmonies or we'll trade-off solos here and there so lovely okay Mitch you are the tenor but um sometimes I uh I dabble in the alto range as well I feel like we switch off and I'm like the baritone so not the base but low as well okay pretty low yeah yeah and your voice was kind of leading through the middle of that totally yeah but that particular song we just said I had the solo sure okay yeah I mean I think what the trio does that stays pretty set but I think Matt and I could just have some fun yeah yeah you know yeah it doesn't always go well but I try to change up also like later in the tour when we're on like show 37 that's when I start changing things up to keep it fresh is there ever a moment where you're running through the song and somebody goes a little hot like somebody's an overriffer a little bit maybe you got to be pulled back is that you is that you where they sent you man bring it back a little bit dial it back how does it how does that work how does that go we're super honest yeah I think we're all able to be really really honest with each other yeah yeah because I mean when we started out it was like we didn't really know each other they knew each other but we didn't all know each other so we're just totally open and honest about everything and it wasn't it was never a feelings and he was just like oh hey like you're flat here or maybe we don't do this or maybe we don't do that it was never like oh I heard that you said that right exactly always good we're taking emotions totally thank goodness yeah no I know I want to sing in my lower register that's what I'm telling you I'm over singing hi well we all did choir at one point and acapella stuff and um but I feel like a lot of us took private voice lessons and even now some of us are still taking voice but you didn't study it at a college or or something or at a school oh yeah we we all did yeah um you all did yeah Scott was a pop music Major she was musical theater I was an opera major um Kevin Kevin was actually pre-med right when he graduated high school he joined the group well I went to Berkeley College of Music and I studied vocal performance there we're talking advice for people who want to continue singing with their voice changed so oh man um well Scott you want to go first oh yeah sure I just um took voice lessons with this teacher that like specialized in puberty and because I always went from so high to really low obviously not avilo but um and it was hard for me and there was like a good two years where I was a mess but it's all about exercising your voice and really working through it also like not trying to be something that you're not you know what I mean like I feel like like what well see the thing is that when I actually found I was singing I was already at base so that was just kind of my mindset I was like well I'm a base so I'm a base and I love being a base but if I like if I would have started as a tenor and like was like seeing solos as a tenor and like all excited about that thing then and then I would have turned into a basement like what the heck is this I didn't can't do any of that stuff it's probably real Avi came out of the womb as a base wow wow some of you are classically trained uh all of you have obviously invested years in developing and owning your skills as vocalists I want to get a little bit serious now but I've asked you how important you think it is point of view you know think about games who are in high school pretty small kind of stuff but like uh how important is it to start learning young I know what I'm saying is that I don't think you need Musical education necessarily to make it in the industry there's a lot of people that have not had musical education and they do really really well but the thing that musical education does do is that it gives you choices to figure out how do I want to make my music how do I want to do what I want to do and those choices I think that's the number one thing that you need because you can I think that would direct your own career you could create the music you can create the entrepreneurship that you want but as localists I mean how important is it I mean I trust people in this room will know some people be small people I'm team death okay I cannot sing say my life all right but you know it's it's important for you guys servants to be able to you know have pension and all that but is that something that's learned or is that something that you guys have just picked up I think that there's obviously natural ability that absolutely that songs to have but also it's definitely very learning I feel like I didn't even realize I was learning it because we where we grew up in Arlington Texas and we had an amazing music program at our elementary schools in our high school like everyone were transferred to like high school to be in the music program and I I we just kind of fell into it and I we were learning so bad it was just something I like to do so I was part of all the classes and we went so pleasure to learn all this stuff and then when I went to college for music I was so far ahead of everyone in my class and I didn't realize it and it wasn't because I was more talented than them it was because I hadn't learned so much in those music programs and so now when I hear about like actually Arlington Texas specifically places having music programs and elementary schools my elementary school have the music program and I'm just like really bummed because I feel like it gave me such an advantage and I like I attribute a lot of My Success to Having learned all that and so it does bum me out to hear that people with that skin care well that's how your brain is the most developmental as well that's when you're taking in the most information so I would say it's pretty important to have that early on that it starts like with being passionate about it and you can go seek that opportunities like we were lucky I did drinks or apartment because I wanted to um take advantage of the music and theater program there but I mean I have really amazing voice teachers growing up I feel like if like there are opportunities other places I think um music in schools can be more prominent it can be more of a thing and a lot of people are cutting it I remember even we were at Martin there was like a big thing about a big meeting we were all talking about all writing letters about how important it was um but I think the opportunities are everywhere and people learn differently whether it's in class whether it's an individual teacher or a group you know I think opportunities are kind of everywhere but also a lot of times in shows the singers get to take a break while the like band just plays interludes and songs and it's just a lot more singing and even when we're not singing solos we're singing background parts so it's non-stop just belting it out and so our voices get really tired and the sad part about that is if one person's voice gets tired the whole thing kind of falls apart because we need every part every part is so crucial those are the two biggest things those are like so crucial crucial Kevin makes lemon juice yeah he does lots of lemon juice for Kevin and he very rarely gets sick yeah lemon is an antibacterial and antiviral so it just helps you not say um not not get sick and because all of you are using only your voices as your instrument that takes a huge toll I can imagine and you really need to recoup you have to take care of your vocal cords what is it that you guys do specifically because there's so much use of your vocal cords yeah to put these songs out there and especially to go on tour how do you keep them in good shape drink so much drink so much like hyper that's like number one thing it's like like disgusting like our tour manager will be like we'll go into a green room before we get there and be like make sure there's like 72 bottles of water that's probably how many we'll need for that day yeah we just consume a lot of water and get a ton of sleep and just try to stay healthy when yeah you learn about a lot about yourself I feel like as as we mentoring like I used to like want to hang out all the time but sometimes if my voice is really tired I have to like be like okay I'm gonna go to bed and just like chill out so yeah you kind of figured out it's different for every person I've cried on stage one time because my I was so sick no sound would come out and I remember it was the first song and I turned away from the audience and we just started crying yeah I remember that it was it was when I was so so sick like no sound no I've been sick a lot you're gonna name all the shows and we're like not that one it was I teared up on stage it was in Kentucky what do you do when somebody is sick because you are the instruments oh man we've dealt with it a lot before actually I think we just kind of well when we're on tour we kind of mold the set to them okay so we take away their solos or you know just in case you have the crowd sing along yeah we had new different things we've never had like more than one person sick at a time no knock on wood on wood and we've never canceled a show wow what do you physiologically do to protect your voice box oh I mean oh like hydrate I I know that's such like a cliche answer Hydra but people don't even realize that they're not hydrating enough like I feel like it took till our fourth tour to be like yeah oh now I can now I can control my voice exactly and I always have to drink like a bunch of water the the day before that's my main thing um when you have to think like your your body and what you intake this is you're an instrument so if you're gonna be eating pizza at four in the morning and drinking and then you wake up and do a show the next day you're gonna be like oh my gosh I'm I'm miserable so you just have to properly I mean we're all much healthier than when we started yeah we all drink much more water we get much more sleep yeah we left the microphone do the work too we we sing a lot lighter on stage for you so we used to Belt like back when we were doing dog days and stuff I was screaming it is crazy too how like this might sound silly and everyone's like obviously but like when you give your body and your voice like a day of rest an actual day of rest it's amazing how it can heal itself like it truly is are you ever worried um if you get that feeling like I think I'm gonna be sick what do you do we go to the doctor immediately I feel like we just handle it immediately because we know our bodies so well and our voices so well that even if we start to feel it we know that something needs to be handled yeah because it feels like it's really bad well and also we're always constantly working so you can't kind of be like oh I'll just kind of let it run its course because there's no time to let it run its course you have to kind of like Get it while it's ahead or yeah yeah be kind of over analyzing it because there's no time to request as a base singer when I'm sick I sing lower so like it's like so I'm like different but feel I could be like say the lowest I've ever seen in my life but I feel terrible so it's like it's like what are you gonna do yeah and talking about your voices how do you take care of them I was about to say that's a con yeah the stress of keeping your voice yeah at 100 can be overwhelming we're like 30 to 33 shows and now and so just like wow and you always hear about all these artists like having to have surgeries and they have nodes and they have to go on vocal rest well that's a thing for a reason it's because they're using their voice so much and we are definitely using our voice a lot too not only because it's an acapella show but because we're doing shows night after night and so that's always a stress but this has been a really good tour for us in tours before has anyone almost kind of lost their voice great and getting on stage was there a fear of that happening so what happens when that that scenario happens you guys you so you see your old pants on you just short in the show you're short in the show okay certain songs we've had soloists which we've rearranged things right before the show before do your best because it's on it's obviously like really sad to go on stage and feel like you can't perform adequately or do your best but everyone just tries to kind of cover and you just have to put a big smile on because honestly because it is five people and because it's more about the you know the overall thing like yeah you just have to play for the overall team as opposed to caring about what yourself what you're what you are going through does that make sense too they're super patient when someone has like uh when their voice is at 80 or something we're always like sing what's the most difficult part when you're on tour because I know that there is I mean buses and things and yeah just staying healthy maintaining local health for sure yeah but we sleep so much on the road you do oh yeah but then like your bus is going to different altitude so you can sometimes get sick and what's funny is like if you have a three Show run right and you get sick then you sing on a sick voice which is Damages your voice a little bit and then you don't have any time to recover so trying to stay like keep your voice Immaculate is like the trick I mean it's obvious though too you guys can't hide behind anything you found what you got yeah yeah exactly okay but do do things like every day to keep your voice in condition even let's say you know you have like a hyatta you know a few months but would you still trying to kind of maintain what do you do you know depending sometimes it's nice to give your voice a break too so I feel like in the in those times it's nice just to kind of like relax and lay low how long would that be about well we don't really get a lot of bricks I would say maybe a month and so you won't you'll just I don't know how you physically stay in that voice every show how do you do that like how do you sustain you're using only you you can't even be like you know like throw it to the guitars for an interlude like there's nothing and it's just the entire time you are using your voice even when someone else is singing you guys are doing the other harmonies like I don't understand what you need to do to prepare or how that just works every time yeah well thank you um I'm really diligent about taking care of my voice um because when I was in my early 20s I wasn't diligent about anything specifically health-wise um but now I you know it's it is it's what I do it's my instrument and also not only does it make me money but it also makes me happy to sing I also enjoy it and I would um you know hate to lose that ever so I take really good care of it um we've performed so much we've done so many shows that I think it was sort of a strengthening and conditioning era for a couple years and now we've figured out how to Pace ourselves vocally it's almost something that I can't even explain because it's just through the process of doing it so much your voice intuitively falls into these places where wow it's an endurance thing it I mean it's kind of athletic it's the only thing athletic that I do in my life but how has singing acapella with PTX prepared you vocally for your new EP love I'm so thankful that I've had um the background that I've had with Pentatonix and also I've just been singing so long that it's just been good practice I feel like although I know I work with a vocal coach the other day and I've definitely developed some bad habits I do something weird with my mouth just to like make sure I'm hitting the note and it doesn't even honestly help but it's just a bad habit but the vocal coach brought it up and I was like oh I know I do that so I definitely have bad habits but good habits too I have like a nerdy singer question yeah I feel like I can look back on moments that were like vocal breakthroughs for me like I learned like I was thinking like when I learned a long walk by Jill Scott I was like oh my God like this is pocket I finally understand and like clicked something in me like I kind of want to ask you this too Scott but like do you have vocal memories of like a transitional moment where like your voice went from one place to another like I just remember the first time I sang in an arena ever I was like and I was like I had to learn how to like breathe out and like that changed my singing forever like yeah there's a certain calmness yeah you know like just for like singers listening and for me who's curious to you um examples of those honestly I feel like I've battled through just the overuse of voice obviously like on tour and improv with you guys by the way it's I can't even imagine that many hours and you literally never stop singing for a moment I know it's not normal for a human to do that so I I feel like I learned like after 2018 I was like I was using like the vocal straw I just feel like I finally put things into my life that were right teaching me new things like you you go and you're like oh I know how to sing and it's fine and like obviously you could take more voice lessons and like grow and be better but I was just like oh it you know I don't have time or whatever about it and um I feel like honestly within the last year or I guess two years now because I don't even know what day it is but I feel like my voice has changed and it feels a lot cleaner it feels like an A lot it sits in a lot better and healthier Place yeah um where before I know that I was just always struggling and even just with like allergies just traveling around so much before I feel like it didn't really lock in until like the last two years or so and I feel like I haven't even really been that sick or that like miserable I would agree with that because I relate to that in the past two years I feel like I finally figured out actually genuinely how much I need to hydrate yeah yeah sing shows at a fourth of the volume and I use oh interesting and I use like way less air I used to take these big breaths before belting we don't really need that they actually like make your cords activate in an unhealthy way the air is pushing against them yeah you don't want that air build up underneath that was such an aha moment for me that was an aha moment yeah and so now I just like have so much more stamina because I sing lighter and the microphone does so much of the work you don't have to be belting your face off yeah um yeah and I feel like you just learned that with experience too and just I feel like personality wise of where I'm at just in my life like I'm so much more easy going than I was in the past two so there's also that because if you're holding a lot of tension in your body or your throat I I like if I am getting upset the first thing that tenses is my throat it is a nightmare and it hurts and then you know obviously we're trying to sing it over that I swear to God I'm miserable this is like bad advice and please don't listen to me any singers out there but I swear sometimes as long as I'm like singing healthy normally a night out where I like rage and laugh all night long and have like the greatest time laughing and dancing and singing and having fun the next day I sing amazing oh that is not normal I thought you were gonna say the opposite because I was like that happens to me too I laugh really hard and really loud and probably incorrectly I don't know but then I wake up and I'm like oh my God I mean obviously it's like I'm doing it constantly that's not good but if I'm like a healthy person singing while doing taking care of myself and then I have like a night of just like fun but also you're raging and you're quote-unquote fun it's like oh I had a little sip of a Paloma and went to bed at night she's like I'm still in bed before midnight thing honestly the worst thing is when I go to like a restaurant and I don't even realize I'm screaming that's the worst thing and then I'm like why is my voice so tired today and I'm like oh I was screaming for four hours yeah I can't wait to yell in a restaurant again I can't wait to ruin my vocal course doesn't that sound nice Kevin can sing videos yeah yeah um if there were to be a single from this room right now I know I can count myself at which person the band is the best singer me me no Kevin for sure well we are very different voices but it technically Mitch is the best singer for sure thank you when you say technically what do you mean like you've got like this range just accuracy like in every way singer's always like really okay singers always appreciate other singers for their just vocal accuracy being able to sing just so on point that's why we're all so obsessed with Tori Kelly because she's just the best singer ever yeah and Mitch has that Vibe what are the most difficult I wouldn't even know the lingo what is like the most difficult thing to do with your voice to imitate you know something else singing whistling it's really really accurately and riffing in the whistle register is extremely difficult I mean I think it all depends on what voice you have like what voice type and what you're trying to do with it um yeah I think it really just depends what are your favorite most effective vocal warm-ups this is gonna be fun and they want you they want you to act them out okay no they don't I just put that in there good I like just skills that's what I do over and over yeah Mitchell scales on iTunes Now um no I do this really annoying warm-up I try to get away from everyone because it's really embarrassing but I I try to sing the same belt the same note on seven different volume levels so I'll be like whoa and I like do it and it's really annoying and obnoxious have you been told it's annoying or you just assumed no but Mr Percy always make fun of me it's just funny it's just funny we're not making fun of you we're just laughing yeah doing warm-ups and Close Quarters is funny because we're just making so much noise and we're like you know ironically the person who warms up the most is Kevin true yeah all day long yeah well I've also been realizing so like after a show for some reason I'm more warmed up than I am when I started and it's I think because like we beatbox so much and it's like a vocal warm-up so now before shows I beatbox for probably like an hour just just beatboxing it gets me really really warmed up does anybody do the thing anymore oh yeah oh yeah the Thrills are everything yeah I would start with that flip trailer I feel like there's a lot there's a lot of spit involved in that though a lot of mucus [Music] [Music] sometimes Pascal when I do lip trills specifically warming up oh I've been doing them in the house I first started when I was in New York and I was working at before my shows and all of a sudden I was just here and I would turn around and Pascal would be doing it with me I've been talking on lemons before every show well we only had two but um it like really clears my throat TMI but I have a lot of sligum in the throat niance and this kind of just thins it out breaks it up and then I sing my little heart out and it's been working it's been working just fine oh God that's really bad I would say mine is the most expensive yeah it's Scotty so cocky or maybe you I because you can go real low I can go real low but a high the highness the Uranus they hear you thank you yeah it's like sub-acoustic oh [Music] that happens when you wake up at 4am you're right exactly what happens when you wake up hello can you go um it depends on the day right yeah today today probably B flat beef can I hear a bit of a B flat using a B flat wow that's low that did something to my internal organs I liked it [Music] um right now it's probably a low a hello a what's a low a sound like um [Music] how low can you go when you're not sick when I'm not sick probably with the lowest um comfortably is a B1 um a one when I'm sick who knows it's so funny me and my friend one of my good friends Tracy Robertson whatever we're both singers they're both bass singers so whenever we're sick we send each other videos in the morning it's it's like so funny it's like who can say the best sick you know [Laughter] your highest note you're like the falsetto here my highest no dude who has the higher voice between the between the three of you all three of you have a pretty decent false setup huge range yeah we all sound different we can all sing about it the same I know actually he has the highest note shut up whatever you go I know sometimes he's like killing these clothes I don't know let's do it and then you match it and then we'll just keep going okay are you ready wait I've heard you sing and you can like shatter glasses um should we just get to it yeah let's go fishing so you ready should I start simple yeah [Music] I can't go any higher so Scott how high can you go foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] something High really quick um okay okay I don't even know if I [Music] really that's pretty high can you hit that note that's a whistle whatever really really incredible you know one one part of this all right Christy can we hear how high you can go I don't dare challenge either but no no really wait seriously yes [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] who has the higher range Mitch or Kirsten I don't actually know I don't know because sometimes it'll like be like hitting these super high notes so you can do real whistle notes I just inhale and do like incorrect ones but you have really high notes but so do you because yeah I don't know it's them I think no I really think it's best I do not think it's me like yeah I'm like dying to get there he can do it with like a really nice challenge falsetto though yeah also you guys have whistle notes that's bad [Music] I tried it I could maybe like maybe a day but I cannot get it [Music] ready that's hard though come on boys today

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Id: ch6sd_aEtmM

Length: 28min 53sec (1733 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 06 2023