I AM a musician. At least part-time. And I do a little teaching.
And, yes, it's a crime how little music teaching there is in schools, and how poor it is, compared with when I were nobbut a lad. I had brilliant music teachers, and the schools had peripatetic teachers who were mostly professionals with the local symphony orchestra. You paid, but it was heavily subsidised and the school loaned you an instrument.
But most importantly, you got one-to-one tuition. Now kids have to learn in groups of four or five, and I can tell you from my own experience, that's a rubbish way to learn: the ablest student gets bored, the weakest one gets left behind and no-one gets as much attention as they really need.
I'm not at all sure it's even better than nothing, because parents who might otherwise have paid for private one-to-one teaching will now say 'Oh, Sprog's getting lessons at school, so there's no need', unaware that Sprog's lessons are woefully far from what he needs to help him progress.
I haven't seen the program yet (it's waiting on the TV recorder thingy), but while the appeal is a good idea, I fear that there could be a lot of really nasty instruments donated - cheap, old, in need of maintenance or repair. Trying to teach a student who has a poor instrument is an uphill battle for teacher and student.
The problem is that until you know you're going to stick with an instrument, you'll opt for a cheap one. But below a certain quality level, instruments can be unplayable or really hard to play well. And beginners and non-musicians can't tell the difference (I seem to recall similar discussions about supermarket bikes....). There are some truly awful Indian- and Chinese-built brass instruments about just now, but also some quite reasonable ones. I fear that many who've given up because they had a rubbish instrument will give it away, and the recipient will also give up for the same reason, and so on and so on.
Oh, and the only instruments I have that are unused are mostly worn out, but I can't bear to give/throw them away. (I sold a trombone once, and I've regretted it ever since). The others all get used at least from time to time.
