From Montco to Yale to Web stardom

Fade in to applause: Sam Tsui is center stage at the microphone. He is joined - by another Sam. And another. And another, on up to six Sams. Videographer Kurt Schneider stands to the side, in the shadows, as the Sam sextet launches into an a cappella medley of Michael Jackson songs.

This YouTube video, posted June 11, has garnered more than 1.132 million views, making the Wissahickon Senior High grads, now at Yale, into Internet stars.

Their many videos, featuring Tsui's showmanship and precise vocals, have gone viral, attracting more than two million views. After the Jackson medley, most popular is a multi-Tsui version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." ( See the videos at http://go.philly.com/tsui1 and http://go.philly.com/tsui2 )

Tsui/Schneider got a little love from celeb blogger Perez Hilton, who linked to the Jackson video. Then, last week, crossover: The two landed on the syndicated Bonnie Hunt Show, where a live Tsui performed "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" with four prerecorded Tsuis.

They are now recognized around Yale and well beyond. Stu Schwartz, their math teacher and mentor at Wissahickon, says, "I was in Cancún this summer and mentioned them to folks I'd just met down there, and everyone had seen the videos."

It's all "absolutely awesome," says Tsui (pronounced Shui). "Incredible," adds Schneider, by e-mail. Their story involves supportive parents and teachers, a love of performance - and a generation that wields computers like magic wands of the imagination.

Tsui's mom, Judy, says Sam began performing at 9, when the family lived on Long Island and he won a part in a local production of the musical Nine. "He sang so well, right from the start, and he really loved performing," she says. Sam, in turn, credits his mother, a high school music teacher, with ensuring that there was always music in the house.

Schneider, too, was part of a very musical family, including a grandmother who is a professional violinist.

At Wissahickon, in Ambler, they were encouraged by Schwartz, who had a recording studio at home, and music teacher Joe Conahan. Schwartz calls Schneider "the best student I've had in 37 years of teaching."

As for Tsui, "I first saw him when he was in ninth grade, in a performance of the musical Titanic," Schwartz says, "and there can be 30 people on a stage, and your eyes go right to him. Whatever 'it' is, he has it."

At Wissahickon, Schneider "had an incredible aptitude for math, was a chess master," Schwartz says. But then he developed a love of music.

How did it all start? In high school, when plans for a video of Tsui and a female singer fell apart, Schneider had the bright idea of having two Sams sing.

By now, the two have evolved what Tsui calls a "very collaborative" process. He and Schneider work up an arrangement together, with much overlap between producer and performer.

Tsui, who sings with the a cappella group the Duke's Men of Yale, also paints and has designed a Web site of his manga-inspired work. Schneider, an accomplished self-taught musician, songwriter, and producer, runs the recording studio at Yale's Digital Media Center for the Arts.

"Yes," writes Schneider, "I must admit, there is a sleeping bag in the recording studio."

Schneider has created his own channel at YouTube, offering a series titled College Musical starring Tsui. With that, the multi-Tsui videos, and solo pieces, there are a couple dozen Tsui/Schneider videos posted on the Web.

At the end of the Michael Jackson vid, viewers learn that they can acquire the sheet music for the arrangement. Glee clubs and singing groups across the country immediately besieged the duo.

"Now we're getting 100,000 plays a day on YouTube," Schneider writes. "I received literally thousands of requests for the sheet music."

He sent out the first 500, then realized he had to make a formal business of this. He created NoodleHouse Studios, soon to have a Web site for "downloads, videos, info, and all that stuff. Secretly, I like the business side of things - it's intense, but exciting."

Next? Tsui/Schneider are working on an EP of original songs, distributed and marketed via the Web. Schneider writes that they are also working on "a film I'm directing starring Sam."

"On paper, I'm majoring in math," Schneider writes, but "I'm definitely going into entertainment one way or another."

Tsui, a classics major, says that although he hopes performance is in his future, "every piece of what I'm doing affects every other piece. Whatever I do, from reading Euripides to singing Michael Jackson - for me it's all awesome and it all makes sense."