What is a bard?

  Here's a question which will have no answer. We all choose this profession for different reasons, and none of them are really either entirely good or bad. The real question is where do you go from there. Like I said before, my discussion here will be focused on the bard as a profession, but that is such a small part of what a bard is. Bards are color, bards are knowledge, bards are laughter and tears, and occasionally, bards are drunk (for some more than others). The road that lies ahead is completely open for you. Bards have played so many rolls throughout history, from village storyteller to royal minstrel to powerful magician. Professionally, you are very versatile in your training. Artistically, you have absolutely no bounds. I only tell you this: Go forth and make these lands a little more colourful; be different, be unique. The answer to this question lies within you, but take your time, for the search for yourself will be your greatest adventure. . .

The Statistical Bard. . .
  Especially with the advent of GS IV, bards are starting to look at training options never really considered before.  In the past, the optimal training path was almost a defined formula.  Now, I don't think you can find trust that any one person's advice will work for your chosen path.  I follow a pretty traditional training path for a bard.  I use single-handed edged weapons and have a pretty balanced approach to physical and magical training.  This has worked pretty well for me, but there are far too many options available to stop with my advice here and not pursue other options.  One path I'd steer you away from, however, is focusing too heavily on either your weapon or magical talents.  Bards are not warriors, and we are not wizards or sorcerers.  There have been many who have tried to forsake either their magical or weapon training, but so far, I don't believe any have truly succeeded, and I don't believe any ever will.
  With that said, I'm going to try to make my advice open-ended enough leave a good deal of the decision on where you want to go with your bard up to you. Here's my theory for the bard who's in this for the long haul, though. Eventually, all of your stats are going to get pretty high no matter where you start off.  Of course, I have two addendums to this theory. First of all, when I say "eventually", I'm talking the level 80+ time frame.  Secondly, if you hurt yourself too badly in a critical area, you may not be survivable enough to make it to a high level.  Here's what I have to say on the various statistics:

Strength: Never think a bard can make a living out in the field without swinging a sword. A bard who hunts using spells only or even mostly is at best a fantasy. On the other hand, your strength grows quite rapidly, so although most guides tell you to make this one of your highest stats, I'd suggest putting as low as you can stand (without getting rediculous of course). I wouldn't go much below 70, but also not much above 80. Although strength is the main stat affecting your attack strength, it's not very long before it becomes somewhat insignificant compared to your weapon training.  Still, don't forget it affects how much you can carry before it starts slowing down your attack speed, so if you want to swing anything bigger than a short sword without having to hunt naked, don't make this one of your lowest stats by any means either.

Constitution: This mainly affects the maximum amount of hit points you can have, and it also has some affect on how well you recover from poison and disease. Although I wouldn't skimp on this stat too much, as you get high enough level to reach your max hit points, you'll be killed more often by a single shot to a critical area of your body rather than actually losing all of your hit points. This stat also grows fairly rapidly, so I'd plan something in the 50-70 range.

Dexterity: While this stat does figure into your Round Time (RT, or how long it takes to swing a weapon), this was never a very important statistic for my training path.  If you're thinking about training in ranged weapons, it's very important, and I'd suggest ignoring any advice I may have on this one. Also, if you're dead set on being an accomplished lockpicker or disarmer, this stat affects both those areas.  For all you fellow sword swingers out there, though, I wouldn't worry too much about this one.  It can probably be one of your lower stats.

Agility: This is a new one for GS IV.  From what I can tell, it pretty much just replaced the old "Reflexes".  This is mainly going to help you in your agility on the combat field.  It also has a direct impact on your Defensive Strength (DS).  It doesn't increase all that quickly, so I'd probably looking at putting something around the 60-70 range here, if not more.

Discipline: Discipline no longer has nearly the direct impact on training points as it has in the past.  Therefore, I'm a bit at a loss for what to say about this stat.  It now figures into resisting certain mental or emotion-based attacks, but I'm not sure exactly which ones or how common such attacks are.  It does still figure into how fast you can absorb experience, but in general, I'd put a mid-level stat here.  It's not going to increase very quickly, though, so don't shortchange yourself too badly.

Aura: Although this stat grows very fast, a low stat here in the beginning can affect you for a long time. In addition to determining how many spell points youcan have, it also is is also one of your prime stats, so it affects the training points you receive each level. Still, I wouldn't start with anything lower than an 80 here after your +10 class bonus. I've talked about how it's a fantasy to think a bard can hunt entirely with spells. It's equally a fantasy to think a bard can fight effectively entirely without them.

Logic: This is no longer one of the Bard's primary skills (it was replaced with Influence), and therefore not nearly as important as it used to be.  It will affect your ability to use certain magic items as well as activating scrolls, but with the changes to these, I've started rethinking spending much time training in these areas anyway.  This stat is the slowest to increase, but I'd still make it one of my lowest.

Intuition: This one is also new to GS IV.  I'm really not clear on all of its direct benefits, but I'm thinking it would help in such things and finding things that are hidden, traps and things of that nature.  It also figures into your ability to dodge, but not nearly as much as agility and of course your training in the Dodge skill.  Unless I find out more to the contrary, I have a feeling it's not too horribly important, and probably has minimal impact on your skill in combat.  So, even though it increases quite slowly, I'd look at something in the 50-60 range to put here.

Wisdom: It always seemed to make sense to me that Wisdom would be extremely important for a bard. From what I can tell, it's actually not. The main thing it's going to affect is your defense against spirit based spells, which perhaps I shouldn't scoff at, since we're hurting a little worse in that area in GS IV than we were in GS III.  From what I've heard Intuition is now the primary stat to help you find traps, so Wisdom is no longer important in that area. Around 50-60 should probably be fine, especially since this stat grows at a fairly steady rate.

Influence: This is now one of our Prime Stats, so remember you get a +10 bonus to whatever you designate here.  This is basically the replacement for Charisma, but it is much farther reaching than Charisma was.  For one thing, it has great impact on mental based magic.  Although there will eventually be an actual Mental Sphere of magic, bard spellsongs are currently the most mental based spell list out there.  I can't tell you exactly which spellsongs Influence affects and how much it affects them, but I don't think this was made one of our prime stats for no good reason.  Still, it is our fastest growing stat, so I'd probably shoot for putting around a 70 here, and definitely nothing higher than 80 after your +10 bonus.

So that's my humble opinion. I am by no means an expert on stats, and I'm still learning from my own mistakes, so continue checking back on occasion.  I'll highlight any significant changes with red. In the past, I haven't agreed with a good deal of what I've read on stats including some guides written by some very experienced and rather successful bards, so take all of this for what it's worth. Hopefully at the very least I've given you enough information to make an informed decision, but I'd highly suggest learning other bard's points of view as well.

Train? What's that?

  One of the most common concerns is what should I train in. Well, like I said before, a bard is extremely versatile, so don't feel bound by what anyone tells you is the best course. What I'll do here is break down each of the areas you have to train in and give you my personal views just to get you started.  Realize, this is written from the perspective of a longsword swinging bard, so I can only offer limited advice for those who choose to pursue other training paths.  The good news is, with the changes made to how we train and the ability to retrain, small mistakes are very easy to correct, and even bigger mistakes are not impossible to recover from.
 One term I am going to use that may confuse you is redux. You may also hear it referred to as semi-dux, since bards (being only "semi-warriors" do not get the full benefit of redux). In short, redux is a reduction in the damage taken from a blow. The more you train in physical combat oriented skills (like shield use or armor use) and the less you train in magical skills (like spell research or magic item use), the more "redux" you get. Think of it in terms of a percentage. If you have 10% redux and you normally would have taken 10 points of damage from a particular blow, with redux, you'd only take 9 points. You get the most benefit to Redux from the Physical Training skill, and the second most benefit from Two-Weapon Combat, Armor Use, Shield Use, Combat Maneuvers, Multi-Opponent Combat, Dodge and Ambush.  You get the least benefit from all other weapon use skills.  Studying spells will actually reduce your Redux, but I'd have to say that's a small price to pay. In general, I simply avoid using physical training points to pay for mental training and instead overtrain if necessary in physical skills that will help my redux. I don't have the actual formula to figure out how much redux you'll have, but hopefully this helps.

Armor Use: This is going to make it easier for you fight while wearing armor. In technical terms, it reduces or eliminates the round time penalty you get for wearing certain types of armor in addition to making it easier to cast spells while wearing armor. Most younger bards wear double or full leather, which doesn't require very much training, but as you get older, you may want to use a heavier armor like brigandine. Anyway, I'd suggest training once per level until you can use brigandine without a casting penalty (35 ranks). If you miss a few trainings early on, don't worry about it.  Before long, you'll probably have extra physical training points you can easily throw into training here to make up for anything you miss early on.

Shield Use: If you are planning on training in single-handed weapons, a significant amount of your defensive ability will come from your proficiency with a shield. Train at least once per level in this for life, as this will help your defense significantly in stances other than full offensive. I've recently started training twice every other level since this now affects your ability to block your opponents attack completely with your shield.  You very well may not have the training points to do this early on, but at level 45, I use my mental training points up far faster than my physical, so it's actually nice to have something like shield use I can throw my extra physical training into without feeling like I'm wasting them.  Even before the ability to block, though, I trained more than most here, since I'm not an "all or nothing" fighter.  I often use stances other than fully offensive or fully defensive, which makes shield training that much more significant.

Edged Weapons: Pretty much the skill of choice for most bards. It's the cheapest other than Thrown Weapons or Brawling, and unlike polearms, ranged weapons or two-handed weapons, it leaves a hand open for a shield. The next most popular weapon choice for bards are probably the increasing numbers who use polearms and ranged weapons. There have been some changes to help with defense for those who choose to use two handed weapons or two-weapon combat, but I don't know of any bards who have been very successful on this path. Still, I'm waiting to pass judgement in GS IV.  Anyway, choose wisely, for if you switch halfway, it could certainly leave you at an extreme disadvantage later. Train twice per level in this from the beginning if you choose this route. It won't kill you if you single train on rare occasions, but that generally shouldn't be necessary.

Blunt Weapons: I think this is the one weapon type I've never heard a bard seriously consider training in.  From a training cost perspective, it's not necessarily unviable, but edged weapons are cheaper, and you don't gain anything over those by training in blunts.

Two-handed Weapons: There has been more talk since GS IV was released about training in this than I've ever heard before, but I still think it's simply too expensive.  If you decide to do this, realize it will will severely limit your ability to train in other areas that bards traditionally like to train in.  If you favor armed combat strongly over your skill with magic, though, it just may be viable.  I do have to admit the amount of damage you can inflict with two-handed weapons is pretty impressive, but if that's what you're after, I'd suggest going with polearms instead.

Ranged Weapons: This has become an increasingly popular choice for bards.  I'm not sure if it's based more on practicality or its novelty, but if you decide to go this route, it's a significantly different training philosophy, so I'd highly suggest finding a more experienced ranged weapon user (even if it's not a bard) and get some good advice from them.

Thrown Weapons: Although training in this area is no more expensive than edged weapons, it's really not a very viable choice if it's your only weapon training.  It therefore goes under my "too expensive to be practical" list.  I mean, how many +20 throwing daggers can someone really afford.  I suppose you could individually e-blade a bunch of normal ones, but it will probably take a bard much more creative than I to come up with a good way to use this skill as a primary combat skill.

Polearms: Though there were very few in the past and they are still not the majority, polearm swinging bards were for a long time the only accepted alternative to the rest of us. I really know very little about exactly how well polearms hit, but I know the naginata drove a few to train in polearms back in the earlier days, and that weapon in particular is especially lethal, though I'm not sure if Tykel still has them in his backroom. Most polearms are two-handed weapons, so you'll be without a shield. Anyway, if you want to be different, go ahead and give it a try. Polearms in general are certainly much easier to come by than they were in the past, and with the addition of polearm specific maneuvers such as tripping, they are even more popular than ever before.

Brawling: I initially trained in this skill for two reasons: to help my Voln empty hand combat (Voln-fu) and to increase my defense when not carrying a weapon. My Voln-fu has been pretty useless with my level of training, and I don't get into many bar brawls anymore. I also don't make a habit of leaving my weapon hand empty when anything nasty is about. Still, if nothing else, this is a mainly physical skill, and it's not a bad place to put extra training points and not detract from your redux. At level 45, I have 11 ranks.

Combat Maneuvers: In general, this skill will help a great deal with avoiding bolts from clouds, certain creatures special attacks, and will also help with aimed attacks. You'll also need it to train in the special combat maneuvers that have been introduced in GS IV.  Currently the only three of these maneuvers released for bards are Combat Focus, Combat Movement and Shield Bash.  Shield Bash I don't find too useful since we have Vibe Chant, but the other two really help, and there will be other useful skills released in the future.  Later on in your training, combat maneuvers will also become a relatively significant factor in your attack and defense strengths. It won't seem a big deal early on, but if you don't start off early, it will be difficult catch up. Train once per level. Don't try to double train until you reach at least level 20. It's very expensive, and you'll have plenty of other areas where you'll need the training points.

Multi-Opponent Combat: Originally, this skill was intended to help you better defend against multiple attackers and was not implemented. It has now been implemented with a change and is quite useful. With this skill, you can attack multiple opponents at once or attack a single opponent multiple times. Don't worry when you train in this for the first time and don't see the results. You need at least 5 ranks to use this skill. I'd train once every couple levels or so if you have the training points for it. If you never train in this, I don't think it will really hurt you, since you'll be able to train in other areas with the training points you save.  If you do train here, I'd think carefully about getting more than 5 ranks. You don't gain any more benefit until 15 ranks when you can attack 3 opponents, and it's not until around 30 ranks before you can attack a single opponent twice.  This skill was all the rage when it first came out, but most bards quickly abandoned it when they fully realized how many training points it sucked up.

Ambush: There have been many changes to the combat system that have almost eliminated the days when most creatures could reliably be taken out with a single, well-placed shot.  Attrition is now the buzz word in GS IV combat, so I'd plan for that.  My normal training routine here was about 3 ranks every 4 levels, but I'm seriously considering abandoning this training altogether.  I'll most likely keep the ranks I have already, but it now seems this skill is no longer worth the cost. A bard's defense strength is generally fairly good, so you can go toe-to-toe with most creatures your own level and come out ahead.  It doesn't seem like it's a very expensive skill, but from what I understand, you pretty much have to double train each level in this skill to truly be considered competent.  I believe combat maneuvers will help you target a specific area of your opponents body, so unless you're dead set on attacking from the shadows, I'd suggest minimal to no training here.

Physical Fitness: This determines the amount of damage you can take before you die. It also determines how much stamina you have to use combat maneuvers, health point recovery, and a few other related areas.  Early on train once per level here. Depending on your race, this will max out at some point (someday I'll steal a chart or something from someone), so you'll have a few extra points to use elsewhere. I'm not sure if or when your stamina reaches its max, so although I've stopped training here, it may be beneficial to start again, especially since it's the primary method of increasing your Redux.

Dodging: New to GS IV is the ability to Evade, Block or Parry an attack.  If you successfully do any of these, the creature automatically misses you.  Dodging directly affects your ability to Evade your oponent.  The Simutronics guide suggests that bards train twice every 3 levels, but I find this skill beneficial enough to train once every level.  Beyond that, it gets a bit expensive, and I'd rather make up for it by training in shield or weapon use which are cheaper, increase my ability to block or parry, and have the added benefit of increasing my defense strength (DS) and attack strength (AS).

Arcane Symbols: This is pretty much the skill formerly known as "Scroll Reading".  It will also allow you to read any other runes or magical symbols that exist or will exist in the future.  I would suggest fairly minimal training here, although it will be useful reading scrolls or getting into areas such as the Broken Lands, where you need to decipher runes in order to enter.  It is rather expensive in the mental training arena, though, and you'll soon realize that mental training points are worth their weight in silver, so train when you can, but only as much as you think is really necessary to effectively use some scrolls.

Magic Item Use: Using magic items is a bit more difficult in GS IV than it was in GS III.  Some magic items that didn't require any skill in this ability before now do.  Because of this, I'd suggest at least some training here, but for the most part,  bards really weren't meant to use most wands, so I wouldn't worry about getting that level of proficiency. We already have poor casting strenth, so sorcerer wands don't work well for us, and unless you want to expend even more training points for spell aiming, wizard wands are pretty useless.  I currently only have 6 ranks at level 45, and I don't have plans to train much more in this area any time soon.

Harness Power: You no longer automatically gain spell points when you gain a level.  You will now need to train in this skill to gain that increase in mana.  I'm currently training once per level.  Remember your maximum spellpoints are limited by your Aura.

Mana Control: There are three types of Mana Control: Elemental, Spiritual and Mental.  This skill is what used to be known as Mana Share, except with a twist.  Shared mana is now broken into the three types I've listed.  The best way to explain this is with an example.  If you try sharing mana with someone who has trained only in Spiritual Mana Control, and you have only trained in Mental or Elemental, you cannot send or receive any mana from them.  Now, let's say you each have 5 ranks in Spiritual Mana Control.  This gives each of you a bonus of 35 in this training, which directly translates to what percentage of the mana sent you can send or receive.  In other words, if you try to send 100 mana, you will successfully send 35% of that (35 mana) and your recipient will successfully recieve 35% of what you successfully sent (35% of 35, or 12 mana).  If each of you has trained in multiple disciplines, you'll automatically use whichever mana control type you have in common which will transfer the most mana.  It is possible to train to a bonus over 100 in this, in which case you can recover some of the mana the sender wasn't successful in sending.  In other words, if in the previous example the reciever had a bonus of 150, he'd get the 35 mana the sender successfully got through along with another 50% (17 mana).  You can never recieve more than someone tries to send.  Now, the question is, which type of mana control should you train in.  For bards, Elemental and Mental are the cheapest, but since I'm usually sending mana to spiritualists either for spirit based spells or healing, I've actually focused most of my training in the spirit sphere.  Training in Mental may be an alternative, since it is more likely that spiritualists will train here than in elemental.  As for a training plan, I try to train in one of these once every four levels.  If I could afford to train more often, though, I would.  You may wonder why you should train just to give mana away, but realize that it can indirectly benefit you, whether you're sending to a spellcaster in your group, sending to someone who can cast defensive spells on you, or repaying a helpful empath for the healing you just received.

Spell Research: Train once per level, every level! Bards are not dedicated spellcasters, but we do end up depending a good deal on our spells, especially for defense. Still, there has been some thought by some recently concerning skipping a level of spells from time to time to enhance their redux. I think this may work for much older bards (60+), but for most of us, our spells and spellsongs will probably outweigh any benefits from redux, especially since I hear it's capped at 50%.

Lore: There are four general types of lore: Elemental, Spirtual, Sorcerous and Mental.  Each of these have subcategories you can train in.  Spiritual and Sorcerous lores don't do bards any good to train in, but there are some benefits to the other two.  In Elemental lore, currently, training in Air is the only one that's helpful to us.  This discipline will benefit our sonic shield, weapon and armor. Currently, the other subcategories of Elemental Lore don't have any benefit to either of our spell lists.  In the future, I'd expect this to change, especially for our Minor Elemental list.  Mental Lore has two areas that are currently helpful to our spellsongs.  These are Telepathy and Manipulation.  Telepathy will provide bonuses to 1007 (Kai's Triumph), 1015 (Song of Depression) and 1035 (Song of Tonis).  Manipulation will provide bonuses to 1002 (Vibe Chant), 1004 (Purification), and possibly to 1030 (Disruption) in the future.

Climbing: A good area for anyone to train in, but not too critical while you're very young. Once every other level should be fine, perhaps alternating with swimming. I don't think most areas require more than about 20 ranks of climbing, but who knows what the future holds. It's a pretty cheap skill and uses physical training points, so it's also going to help with your redux.

Swimming: Certainly less important than climbing, but it will be useful later on. My suggestion is to alternate in climbing and swimming each level, with an emphasis on climbing. I've stopped at 10 ranks of swimming, but will probably pick up some more when I have extra training points to spend.

Disarming Traps: If you'd like to open your own boxes, this is a necessary area to train. Relying on 408 to disarm boxes will get you killed really quick, since there are many traps out there that are set off automatically any time a spell is cast at them. Realize picking boxes your own level is the absolute best you can realistically hope for, so don't go crazy here. At most, train once per level, but once every other level or twice every three levels is a bit more realistic.

Picking Locks: Even if you do decide you want to open your own boxes, I'd suggest training little to not at all in this skill. You won't be able to keep up with picking locks, disarm and perception without making yourself significantly less effective in battle. If, however, you focus on perception and disarm to see and disarm the boxes, you can use minor elemental spell 407 (Unlock) to pop most boxes. You won't be able to get mithril or enruned boxes, but I'd say that's a pretty small sacrifice. A little training in Picking Locks will help with your Unlock Enhancement spell (403), but this should be a pretty low priority.

Stalking & Hiding: I, personally, have very little training here (once every 3 levels or so), but it can be useful, especially when you start doing a lot of ambushing. With the changes in critical hits, however, I'd expect most bards have given up using hiding and ambushing as a primary hunting tactic.  I've been training once every three levels here, and it has given me just enough skill to reliably hide from creatures I've slept with 1005 (Lullabye) first.  At this point, though, I've changed my mind and decided to give up further training here since I no longer consistently kill creatures with an ambush strike, and I'm unwilling to spend any additional training points either here or in Ambush.

Perception: Not too expensive, and a nice thing to have. It'll help with things like seeing hidden people, hidden areas, and it also is a primary factor in seeing traps and pickpockets. I've also heard that it either is or is going to be a factor in determining how much treasure you find on a creature, but this very well may just be rumor. Certainly train in this area to some degree, but I wouldn't train more than once per level. I've been training three times every four levels, and it's served my main purpose of allowing me to at least see traps on boxes from areas where I hunt (whether or not I can disarm them is another story).

Spell Aiming: I can't see why you would train here unless you want to use wizard wands. None of our spells use this ability, so don't bother with it.

First Aid: I'd say start training early in this up to about 10 ranks (I only have 8 myself). I can't count the number of times I died while young from a bleeding chest or even arm. It's fairly cheap, so I'd say once every other level, but definitely not more than once per level. This will also help you skin your kills. The only drawback to this skill it does use 3 mental, which may be more useful in other areas.

Pick Pockets: It is fairly commonly believed that even if you don't plan on ever picking someone's pocket that training at least a rank or two in this skill will help you catch people trying to filch silver or other valuables from your pockets.  I've never had any confirmation that this is true, but it's a pretty cheap skill, so I'd suggest training once or twice in it just in case.

Survival: This skill helps in such things as skinning, foraging for herbs and building fires.  Not that I've yet seen any ability to build fires in GS IV.  It may also help with resisting the natural elements such as the extreme cold on the way up to Icemule, but that's purely a guess on my part.  I've trained a grand total of one time here just in case I actually need it for something later I at least have a remote chance of getting lucky.

I may have missed some training areas here, but suffice it to say, they aren't anything I've ever trained in.

Spellsongs or Spells?
  So you followed my advice and go to train in spell research, but now you want to know if you should train in the bard sphere or minor elemental sphere. For a long time, bards concentrated in minor elemental due to the fact that most of our spellsongs were not yet implemented. Well, that's all changing, which makes the choice even harder. I'll provide a little advice here, but I wouldn't make a decision until you take a look for yourself at the spells in each circle. I've provided a list of the current spellsongs, and you should be able to get a list of the elemental spells off the main Gemstone site.
  But I still haven't answered your question. As I've said before, defense tends to be a weak area for bards, so I'd suggest training in 401 out of the elemental sphere your first level to give you a little boost. After that, I'd go over to spellsongs until at least 1003, which is a rather inexpensive song that gives you +10 to your defense and is self renewing. The next big spellsongs to look forward to are 1007 which increases your entire group's attack by 10 and 1010, which is starts off at +15 to your defense and goes up every two spellsongs you learn after that. This is the big decision point.  I think I, personally would train up to at least 1007, and since you're already there, might as well continue to 1010 before going back to elemental. If you do go back, I probably wouldn't get past 414. There are many bards who train all the way up to 430 before switching back to spellsongs, but if nothing else, spellsongs are one of the things that separates bards from the other classes. The question is: Do you want to spend that much time in elemental to get up to this point. Once you go beyond 414 in elemental or 1019 in spellsongs, I'd say you've pretty much passed the point of no return. At that point, continue to train in that sphere until the highest level spell in that sphere that's currently implemented (430 and 1035 respectively) before switching back. Did I answer your question? Kind of? Sorry, best I can do.

What's so Special about Spellsongs?
  Spellsongs are unlike any spell in any profession. Most spells last for a certain amount of time and then are gone, making you stop whatever you're doing to cast them again. Many spellsongs, however, renew automatically, and at a fraction of their original casting cost. For example, spellsong 1003, Fortitude Song costs 3 mana to cast. Now, the duration is fairly short, but at the end of this time, the song will automatically renew for the cost of only 1 mana, and you are never left uncovered by the spell. As a sidenote, spellsongs are also cast slightly different. You still "prepare" them as normal, but instead of "cast"ing them, you "sing" them.  The new verb, "incant", also works with spellsongs, though with certain spellsongs such as Sonic Weapon, you'll still need to prepare and sing to get a specific weapon type.