well first of hello everyone , i have played a few times baldurs gate and its a game that i really like , now for the first time my main char is a bard and i normally didint have Garrik for long eather since i normally allways liked the party with khalid , jaheira , minsc , dinaeyr and imoen , so that dont leave space for a bard unless i was one , well my question is when its best to use the music , because since start all i have my bard do is using her music , wich is fine i have the rest of the group fighting and it makes a lot shorter the times when any party mates get scared or stuff like that , but i dont really do much else then that , anyone have a few tips on how bards can work ? shes a decent caster as i gave her 18 int but dont get as many spells as a mage , im using Xan as a mage , hes a bit looking on the bad side of things allways but well xD , thanks in advance for tips her stats are 12,16,16,18,10,19 and have used a CON tome and a CHA tome , i know some might think its not good stats but i dont like having negative stats and wanted my bard to be very charismatic :)

Bards don't really come into their own until BG2, as they'll both get decent levels of mage spells and some enchanted chain mail that doesn't restrict spellcasting. The Blade kit, in particular, can come in very handy. In a vanilla BG game, though, I find bards very underwhelming, as you're basically using a party slot for either a walking Bless spell or a gimped thief/mage.

The advantage of a Bard is that they gain levels very fast which makes their spells stronger faster than a Wizard's.

As long as you don't need other support there's no need to stop singing which can increase the party damage output quite a lot, the bonus to hit and damage applies to every single attack of every party member.
When the rest of the party is down you can do quite good damage with a composite bow.

I'd have the bard equip chainmail most of the time and use his spellcasting only for casting outside combat, put off his armor just for casting "friends" or "identify" or long lasting buffs like "strength".
When you get more spells at high level you can cast "shield" to protect yourself and throw away the armor for more comfort.

Thanks for the tips , i guess i was doin the right thing then , yes i know there is a chain mail in bg 2 and im exited to be able to use it as i only had Haerdalis once in my party and that was a cool armor to have ,i am using my bard as a buff caster aye well a few buffs not many at the moment xD, i didint know the song did help with damage i just tought it was more with morale against fear but guess thats why its been working well , i just wanted her to be able to a bit more , about the identify she normally can just do it without spell as i give her 18 int to get many spells , i think shes got about 70 now of lore in lv 6 , i had read that bards where good spell casters in the beggining because they lv faster then wizards , but my wizar is one lv under and allready have more slots then her and lv 3 spells , so not sure about them being better casters in lower lv anymore :P , it will be nice when i have the chance to choose a pack in bg 2 and have her do a bit more then just play her lute :)