So I have always thought it was weird that bards can sing songs to you, that actually effect you, while you sleep. Makes no sense. You're asleep, so how the hell are you going to hear them?

However, the sleep ability is never going to go away, so here is an alternative approach that I think is kinda cool.

Instead of putting people to sleep, bards could have a song that puts people into a trance, or stupor. The end result is that if you get nailed with it, you end up immobile, unable to take any actions even if harmful songs (that are not causing direct damage) are done to you. The bonus would be that you could actually see what is going on, and your saves don't drop as they do when you are asleep.

Communication via cabal and group channels should still be allowed, but I suggest that any such communication should cause the character to make an emote along the lines of: "Daevryn makes a few noises, but fails to break from the trance."

OPTIONAL:
Furthermore, I think it would be nice if, at the higher ranks, there were a chance to snap out of the trance. This probably won't happen if any of the other ideas go in, but it would be nice.