I propose a couple of changes to the bard:
Bardic Music should be a unique type of bonus--not a morale, competence or other type. This way it will stack with everything.
Bards should never need material components. Fiddling around with bits of stuff is for wizards. Instead, I propose that spells that have costly components be replaced with Perform checks equal to 10 + 2*spell level + 1 for every 100 gp of the material component.