Grimsun13

Figure id throw my 2 cents in since I have recently been playing a bard a lot in 5e. Additionally a player in a game I dm is a bard and I can certainly tell you there is two ways to play a bard and one can be boring.

Simple answer is be a bard who can fight. Ie ranged weapon/melee weapon just to give you something to do when your magic and music is down.

The other option is be a tinkerer. If you don't have anything do that round maybe go shut the door or open a window or knock over a book shelf. Something that while it isn't as good as blowing something up, can still be useful for someone in the future (ei. party then pushes the enemy out the window, you prevent guard from showing up.

If you are merely talking of the fact that playing music and casting buff spells is not so entertaining for you then id say if your group is into RP then sing the songs, play a 30 second guitar rift, something creative to make it more unique and memorable.

Ultimately maybe the support role of bard is not something you enjoy and that is simply something you avoid in the future. Coming from a very wizard focused/fighter past I can agree that when I play my bard I feel a little less excited about combat.

Do you ever run a game without a story? Recently I noticed that me and my players often enjoy the nonsense and the experiences we have rather than the over-arcing plot. So it got me thinking why do we need a plot. So I am curious if you have every considered the same.