Showing Music in Comics

Obviously, comics don't have sound. And that includes most webcomics.

But if you want to show music playing, or being performed, how do you indicate it on a comic page?

The first method that comes to mind is just writing the lyrics in a dialogue balloon, and maybe peppering the balloon with a few musical notes. Italicizing the text is optional, to support the intent that this is not just regular ol' spoken dialogue.

Another way would be to show the singer (and the band if there is one) singing and playing, with no musical notes or lyrics shown. This would be a good choice if the band are just background texture to the scene, or if it doesn't matter what the particular music is. An audience of some kind, either reacting or not reacting to the music, could go in there too, of course.

I've seen comics actually draw a musical staff (the five lines of a treble clef) sort of wafting through the panel or panels, usually twisting and folding like a ribbon, with either musical notes or lyrics or both. This is a more stylized method, but I've seen it done regularly. I guess this would be a way to make the music the most important thing, the focus of the scene.

A simple, more cartoonish method would be to have two or three lines sticking out and a couple musical notes floating there. This seems to be suitable for music coming from a source like a jukebox, stereo or ipod. It shows musical noise with no specificity.

How do you show music in your comics? Possibly you use various methods, including the ones I listed. Are there some other approaches I missed?

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Happy Thursday!

-Banes