Having bards in Skyrim taverns is a cool thing, don't get me wrong. But after three years I think we could use a break. There's only so many times you can listen to Ragnar the Red without going insane.
To the rescue is the Bard Instrumentals Only - Sing Upon Request mod by fadingsignal. The simple mod does one thing, it stops the bards from singing unless you ask them to. And unlike other attempts at this feature, they don't mutely mime the singing anyway.
The mod only changes one line in the bard script. It does not gag them like the picture above, the mod creator simply thought that would be a funny visual metaphor.
You can download the mod
here and finally enjoy some peace and quiet.