Oh hi Rubeus! dev1004 has totally nothing to do with bard.
Bard has access to 3 of the best weaponskills in the game for dagger inside abyssea which are Rudra's Storm, Mercy Stroke, and Evisceration. They also have accesss to every single WS thf has access to minus Dancing Edge, Shark Bite and Mandalic Stab. Your short comings which requires you to use a staff should not be projected on the job its self and should be something you resolve personally as nothing else will change this issue you are having. Songs, the back bone of brd are able to over come the other short comings that you have mentioned in skill. Brd certainly does not take long at all to sing any song once you gear your brd correctly. from start to finish its 6 seconds from when you cast until you are able to cast again. thats 4 seconds from casting until the song effect is in place and the slight delay after. The duration of songs is also effected by a number of items in game and if your songs are only lasting 2 minutes i think it would certainly be in your best interest to look into something to help increase that time. If a brd has nothing in the way of gear songs are around 8 seconds to cast buff songs and 10 seconds before you can do anything. This is going to hold anyone back when it takes half the duration of the 1st song played to run around and play the next 3 songs. As i mentioned a few posts ago the brd mythic dagger at 90 allows brd a lot of flexibility. Brd has no logical reason to have any base MP. Songs require no MP. There is enough other ways to gain the needed base MP or you could use Conserve MP for casting other spells in and there is also Ballad I-III and a number of items which brd can equip that has refresh on them. Genbu's Shield isnt enough? Fencer, Critical Defense Bonus and Resist Silence I-IV are certainly very useful traits. The resist Silence alone has proced for me a number of times and even in very important fights. This isnt everquest and Sotto Voce has no use if you gear for -50% with Nightingale your songs go off in 2 seconds. The rest im not even going to touch because now your just Q.Q'ing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWx77VE7cmw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH62U7Q1A7g