PiaPiaPiano Mug, artwork by Rebekah Quantrill-Tozer, inspired by the popular cumulative folksong The Music Man, which has many variants through history.

Peter Kennedy published a song called “The German Musicanier” in “Folk Songs of Britain and Northern Ireland” in 1975 to which there are some similarities. Even earlier, “The Wonderful Musician” was written by Walter Greenaway and was published in 1871. The chorus begins:  “A big drum, a kettle drum, the fiddle, flute, and piccolo, piano, harp, harmonium and many more besides”.  The song is also known in Germany as “Ich bin ein Musikante” and adapted in the USA to “I am a fine Musician”.

The song was recorded by Black Lace, an English pop group in 1990, and reached number 52 in the UK singles charts, and remains popular with holiday park entertainments teams, and children’s entertainers.  Each verse begins with the following chorus lines, divided between the lead singer (“The Music Man”) and the audience. The lyric below is from the version performed by Black Lace. There are variations that follow roughly the same tune:

The Music Man (lead singer): “I am the music man, and I come from down your way, and I can play!”

Audience: “What can you play?”

Each verse features a specific instrument with accompanying actions. After each verse, singers sing the previous verses in reverse order before singing the main chorus lines again.  Here is the Piano verse:

The Music Man: “I play the piano!”

Everyone Sings “Pia-pia-pia-no, pia-no, pia-no; pia-pia-pia-no, pia-pia-no” to the tune whilst acting out playing the piano.

11oz sized mug, which is both dishwasher and microwave safe though this may cause the design to scratch or fade faster.