Just thought I'd jump to the defense of the bard in the face of a fairly weak and short critique.
Personally, I found my mook bard, Naddy to be a very instrumental party member (if you'll pardon the pun). But I guess it is a question of tastes and styles.
I actually think that alot of the early instruments you can find have the capacity to make battles end alot of faster by disabling a group of weaker or one stronger creature for instance. I made Naddy specialise in crossbows I think and she became one of the higher damage dealers in the early-mid game, which can also be handy for certain party builds. Again, it will depend on your build and playing style but the generalisation 'jack of all trades master of none', holds fairly true for bards in many games. I think they can balance out some parties quite nicely!