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The Communicator

The Communicator

Toni Jarvis: Seventy Three Years Of The Accordio

Toni Vetter-Jarvis has been playing the accordion for the ethnic German dancers (schuhplattlerers) of German Park since she was fifteen years old. Now, at eighty-eight, she is still going strong, playing for every dance practice (two hours on Wednesday from April to the last Wednesday in August), as well as at the yearly three picnics, which are on the last Saturday of June, July and August. And although seventy-three years of playing the accordion may not seem like much, it’s enough to earn Tony a place in the Michigan Hall of Fame.

She started off playing the piano for her father, who had been the forplattler (lead dancer) of a schuhplattler troop back in Germany. After moving to Michigan, Vetter’s father decided to start up the same thing here. “When the old schuhplattler thing started, that was years and years ago, my father taught about four or five couples the dancing. And I would accompany them on the piano.” Vetter said, mentioning that her father would often accompany her on the guitar. As the group got better, their fame spread. Soon, other German-American clubs were requesting the dancers of German Park to come and perform at their meeting halls. “You can’t very well carry a piano around,” she said with a chuckle, going on to add that her father told her to learn how to play the accordion. Accordions are similar to the piano, as well as easier to carry, two things that would make Vetter’s life a bit easier.

She complied with her father’s wish, and the rest, as they say, is history.

German Park, which was founded in 1938, started off merely as a support group for German-American families. Ann Arbor seemed like a good place to start up such a group, because, according to Vetter, “Ann Arbor was a pretty German town to begin with.” Although the public picnics now draw a crowd of around three thousand people, it certainly didn’t start off with that many attendees. Over time, as the Vetter family met more German immigrants, the idea of having a German-American support group spread itself. “No one in Ann Arbor was doing that at all.” Vetter said, explaining why her father was able to be the forplattler of a German dance troop.

Apparently, the idea of having a place to get together and meet with other German-American families was quite appealing during the thirties, and continued to be appealing throughout the years.

Although German Park has recently gone through some renovations, the original dance hall is still standing, something that Vetter is happy about. “[The plot of land] was all trees, just a wooded area, and they had to clear out the trees, lots and lots of them. And the first thing they did was build a little club-house. But the building still standing next to [the current, modernized dance hall] was the first dance hall. And I hope it lasts for a while. They’ll probably tear it down one day, but it’s the only thing left of the original park, so it’s nice if they’d keep it,”

Although Vetter is pleased with the way her life has turned out, she said that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, “I’m going to come back and learn how to play the flute. It’s much easier to carry! Because this accordion gets heavier and heavier each year!”

Ethnic German Dancing At German Park Click here to see ethnic German Dancing, and here Tony’s famed accordion playing skills; you’ll need to log into Facebook first.

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About the Contributor
Eva Hattie L. Schueler, Senior Reporter
Eva Hattie L. Schueler has been working on the Communicator since their freshman year in 2009 and enjoys making sure the Communicator has a steady supply of op-eds. When not writing angry editors, they can be found taking charge of the A&E section and criticing big-name Hollywood films. They aspire to one day write snarky movie reviews for the New Yorker. In their freetime, Eva Hattie enjoys writing papers on cannibals, sociopaths and Wuthering Heights, although not always at the same time.
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Toni Jarvis: Seventy Three Years Of The Accordio