In the key of F, presumably.  From A Little Tour in Ireland by Samuel Reynolds Hole, 1892.

Did you know that musical scores can have drop caps, too?  These are from Robin Hood: A Collection of Poems, Songs, and Ballads by Joseph Ritson, 1884.

We like to say that music is timeless, but in fact the notes mature, as we see in Educational Psychology by Kate Gordon, 1917.

What are these mysteriously named musical notes from Supplement to Spons' Dictionary of Engineering, Civil, Mechanical, Military, and Naval (1879)?  We're uncomfortably reminded of the nineteen "forbidden notes" of the Boîte Diabolique, revealed in the hilarious British comedy series Look Around You.

"Even if you can't face the music or find it in you, carry a tune with you." —Bob Ripley

An illustration by Walter Frame for St. Nicholas magazine, 1912.

From the Kaleidoscope yearbook of Hampden-Sydney College, 1910.  (For some unbelievably weird yearbook imagery, see our How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook.)

In other words, lay bare your agony moderately slowly with loving expression.  Lyric by William Smyth (1765-1849).

"The piano is a wonder box," from St. Nicholas magazine.

The magic song from Half-Past Bedtime by Henry Howarth Bashford, 1922.

"Music: the most sonic of all the dark arts."  That's comedian and recording artist Matt Berry in the second series of Vic and Bob's House of Fools.

"The [threefold] rays of the bright polar star" (from Lachin y Gair by Lord Byron).

Fifty years before Phil Spector invented the "Wall of Sound," there was the sphere of sound, as we see in this illustration from the magazine Crisis, 1910.

Q: If the card game Pokemon has its own theme tune, why not Go Fish?

From The Nightingale by Richard André, 1899.

Here's a precursor to Hollywood's favorite fake lounge act, The Lampshades, from Young Americans in Japan by Edward Greey, 1882.

An illustration from The Misfortunes of Elphin and Rhododaphne by Thomas Love Peacock (1897).  The caption reads: "And strikes up 'I'd be a butterfly.'"

"The Eldest Generosity girl bounces about a good deal on the music stool and plays wrong notes maliciously."  From The Money-Spinner by Henry Seton Merriman and illustrated by Arthur Rackham, 1896.

An illustration from The Nightingale Dished Up on China Plates by Richard Andre (1899).