In the campaign that I am getting ready to start, I have made a world where most of the dwarves are sea-faring pirates and explorers. These dwarves live on islands and are known for their seamanship and boat-building expertise instead of doing much mining.
So I've come up with the following racial alternatives:
Replace Stability (+4 vs bullrush and trip) and the ability to move full speed in heavy armor with the Ledge Walker rogue talent.
Replace Stonecunning (+2 to notice stonework) with +1 to profession: sailor.
Replace Defensive Training (+4 to AC vs giants) with +2 to AC vs aquatic creatures. (Only +2 because aquatic is a bigger category than giant).
Replace Weapon Familiarity (heavy pick and war hammer) with familiarity with scimitar and falchion.
As for elves, I have played up the fact that they are renowned for the way they blend music and magic. This seems a little harder to figure out as a racial ability. I was looking at the Spellsong bardic feat, and thought that something like that would be pretty cool to give them, but I don't know how it would work mechanically, since I'd like them to be able to blend music and arcane magic even if they aren't bards.
So...
Do my ideas for the dwarves seem balanced?
And, do you have any suggestions how I can give elves a bit of musical flavor without turning them into a race of bards?