Shattered Kingdoms

Having created a couple bards to test this out, it seems art affects the incidence of the critical effect on chords (ie., stunning with f minor, deafness with b augmented, equipment cracking/shattering with c major). But Finney is likely correct in that it may not affect songs. Prior to the recent round of changes, Mitro (max art halfling bard) was able to entrance enemies with songs of silence faster than Peplyn (fistie halfling bard, probably very little art).

Bottom line though, is that unless you want the chord effects to trigger more often and your scrolls to stick better, you'd don't need art on your bard.