Bards are present in every part of Worldstree, representing every race. One who just sings or plays is a Chantuer or Musician, but one who makes magic via Spellsinging is a true Bard. In a sense, all Birds are Bards, as each race has the ability to do at least one Melody and one Key, but this could also be regarded as a Knack.

Bards are very loosely organized. There is no real hierarchy - though there are titles and terms of respect, no Bard can tell another what to do. The only permanent establishment is the Bardic College in Commons, which primarily exists to collect and transcribe music into the Master SongBooks. Bards have a complex limited code language that uses birdfeathers as signals. For example, a Bard with something stolen he wants to sell would attach a bluejay feather to his left sleeve or bracelet. Feather Code is a M/E skill.
 

Degrees of Mastery

There are skill levels to Spellsinging. One who makes music but not magic is a chantuer or a player. Simple knowledge of a few Melodies and Keys, plus ownership of one of the Bardic instruments makes one a Minstrel. A Journeyman Bard must have learned the Glyphs Harmonic and be in the process of studying one of the master Songbooks. A true Bard has mastered all of the Keys and memorized one of the books. A BardLord knows all the Keys and has studied most of the books. A Bard-Sage, usually a Lord Bard-Sage, has written such a book. Cantrices (singular Cantrix) are comic-bards who add impromtu poetry to their Songs.