Harmonica Secrets of Borrah Minevitch

[John Broecker]

Hello Minevitch Fans.

Some say that Borruch Minewicz (Borrah Minevitch, 1903-1955)
did more to promote harmonica playing than any other person.
Borrah invented orchestral harmonicas at Hohner in 1924-'28
(bass, chord, glissando),and employed well over a hundred young
players in his Harmonica Rascals groups from the Great Depression
 (1929-1940?) to his death in 1955.

Others say the credit should go to Mr. Albert Hoxie (1874-1942).
In 1923, Albert established the Philadelphia Harmonica Band
(1923-'37). The band was a 60-member boys' harmonica band
that played for USA Presidents at the White House, and played
on the radio and stage. It was the world's largest harmonica band,
and influenced hundreds of harmonica bands across the USA,
and internationally.

The first known harmonica band was claimed to have been
started in 1918, in Japan, by Toho Miyata, of the TGK company.

Anyway, this post is about a newly discovered publication by
Borrah Minevitch. While downloading John Whiteman's latest
(11th edition) Harp Anthology (692 pages) from

www.scribd.com

another harmonica booklet caught my interest:

Harmonica Secrets of Borrah Minevitch (1934), published
by the Harmonica Institute of America, New York City.
The Institute was a school of harmonica studies created by
Borrah.

The booklet, Harmonica Secrets...is a 20-page booklet of self-
promotion and promotion of Minevitch's Harmonica Institute.
It has a few tips on harmonica techniques, and a lot of dialogue.
It may be freely downloaded from scribd dot com.

It was downloaded, because I thought it might be the missing
Minevitch Thesis on harmonica playing. The Thesis has been an
invisible entity for over 96 years. Harmonica Secrets isn't the
Thesis.

If you are interested in Harmonica Secrets of Borrah Minevitch,
download your FREE copy at:

https://www.scribd.com/document/56479964/Harmonica-Secrets-of-Borrah-Minevitch#

Best Regards

John Broecker

[SlideMeister]

Thanks for posting that, John. I'm sure a lotta folks here will be interested in that book.

[Laina]

Thank you for the link, it was an interesting read. Also for the heads up on Scribd's free trial. It's a great resource with access to some wonderful song sheets/books.

[John Broecker]

Hello, Laina and Age.

It's always rewarding to find
hidden treasures of information.

It's also rewarding to post the
information source's address,
so that other searchers may
benefit.

The most valuable harmonica
information treasure that I've
found is A.J.'s SlideMeister
forums.

SlideMeister members world-wide
have found valuable information
here. And, it's free.

Whenever I discover useful harmonica
information, I pass it to other SlideMeisters.

It's in the tradition of SlideMeister.

Thanks, Age.

JB

[wolfman]

  Thank you John, for sharing.

   Roman

[smojoe]

Age is THE site meister and 'sloop John B.' is THE archives. What treasures.
smo-joe

[John Broecker]

Thanks, Smojoe.

You are a storehouse
of harmonica information.

Best Regards

John "Shake & Bake" Broecker

[Chromatonic]

.

It was downloaded, because I thought it might be the missing
Minevitch Thesis on harmonica playing. The Thesis has been an
invisible entity for over 96 years. Harmonica Secrets isn't the
Thesis.

If you are interested in Harmonica Secrets of Borrah Minevitch,
download your FREE copy at:

https://www.scribd.com/document/56479964/Harmonica-Secrets-of-Borrah-Minevitch#

Best Regards

John Broecker

What’s this, sir?!? A missing thesis? Is this a harmonica legend?

[John Broecker]

Hello, Chromatonic.

Circa 1923, Borrah Minevitch was a student at the
City College of New York (CCNY). This was after he
tried the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
as a chemistry student in Boston, his hometown.

Borrah's older brother, Josssel (Joseph) graduated
from MIT in chemistry. Jossel was 10 years older
than Borruch (Borrah). Borrah left MIT without a
degree, and went to New York.

Borrah was failing his English studies at CCNY,
spending his time observing classes at a New
York drama school: the Clare Tree Major School
for Dramatic Acting.

His CCNY English professor told Borrah that,
if Borrah would write a thesis on any subject,
the professor would pass Borrah in his English
classes. Borrah received a Bachelor of Science
degree from CCNY in 1924.

Borrah said that he wrote a thesis on the history
and technical applications of harmonica playing.
He also said that the Hohner company in New York
read his thesis. The thesis has never been found.

In the Literary Digest magazine, November 1934
issue, Arthur Mann writes in his article, "Harmonica
King: The Story of Borrah Minevitch", that "the thesis
has been published by the harmonica magnates. More
than 5 million copies have been distributed to players."

From 1924-'28, Hohner hired Borrah as a harmonica
designer. He designed new harmonicas for his band,
The Harmonica Rascals: bass harps; chord harps;
glissando harps.

It's believed by many that Borrah invented the thesis
story, and that the story was fiction. Borrah was known
to be a self-promoter.

Best Regards

John Broecker
 

[GregH]

It's believed by many that Borrah invented the thesis
story, and that the story was fiction. Borrah was known
to be a self-promoter.

If you're not so much into music, a talent for self-promotion is just as good - maybe better. Otherwise we wouldn't have a Pop Music industry.   

[Chromatonic]

Hello, Chromatonic.
... (HUGE SNIP) ...
It's believed by many that Borrah invented the thesis
story, and that the story was fiction. Borrah was known
to be a self-promoter.

Best Regards

John Broecker

John, it always amazes me the breadth and depth of the information you share here.
With you as a list member, who needs Wikipedia?
Thank you for all the details.

[carlrosetti]

John is our: Harmonicapedia!  It does amaze me as well-all that knowledge and info.   I thought I knew alot about the harmonica and its players.  Thank you ,John and keep the info. coming!

[John Broecker]

Hello, Chromatonic and Carl Rosetti.

Thank you both, for your compliments.

I don't know much about harmonicas,
but I know where to go for the information.

I have hundreds of sources, and I read a lot.

Best Regards

John "Wikimonica" Broecker