Hallgerda - your third paragraph descibes exactly what I worry the book will turn out like!
sadly I don't think there are really any companies left in the UK which manufacture instruments, except very high end expensive ones. lots of importers of cheap ones from China or elsewhere though
Am guessing that the major reason instrumental learning will not be pushed further is totally the cost. Paying decent instrumental teachers does cost a lot, and parents often seem to resent paying the going rate (it may seem a lot but let me disabuse anyone who thinks you make a lot of money out of instrumental teaching - you really DON'T!). The other problem is that county music schemes/local peripatetic teachers are often hired to teach many instruments to save money/hassle and make timetabling easier, and they rush about over large geographical areas and never get the chance to know a school and what's going on there. I know lots of woodwind teachers, for example, who teach instruments that they don't even actually know how to play! Hardly a good start, especially when they sometimes only have 10-15 minutes per pupil - it's very difficult to teach someone in that time (especially when you have to set up a complicated instrument during the lesson as well) and lots of kids just give up because it's all so unsatisfactory. Then you have the instruments/reeds/music to buy as well, and you can't just buy really crappy cheap instruments because it's so depressing for the children if they're crap, and also because if they are shared and heavily used (and abused and neglected!), cheap ones just fall to bits quicker....There's also Saturday morning music schools in places (used to teach at one myself) - provision is patchy though I think and it's bloody hard work for the teachers (8 8-11 years old for 30 mins to teach the clarinet isn't fun, just learning how to put the bloody things together took weeks....)
I don't know what the answer is, but I think when it comes to instrumental teaching at primary level, simplicity is best. The recorder, whilst widely reviled (!) has so many advantages, it's cheap, easy to blow (there's no point starting many woodwind instruments too young, for example, as the kids don't have enough puff, big enough hands, developed enough teeth, sufficient strength etc.), the fingering translates easily to other wind instruments, it's good for learning notation, it's light and easy to carry AND it's not hard for a non-specialist teacher to learn and teach the basics.
Of course children should also have the opportunity to try as many instruments as possible. (I'm only really qualified on woodwind, brass and strings a bit of a mystery...piano/guitar/percussion different again). But I do think it's deeply unfair to pick who learns out of a hat, or allocate instruments rota style, or via any other arbitrary system (have heard of lots of different ways of doing it, including by build ). But god only knows who's going to tackle this. Did your hopes come to anything - I see on your other thread that you think they will spend the money on something else?
So I can see where they coming from with this singing malarkey - they're hoping to enthuse primary school children about music in general and hope it leads to them taking an interest for the future, and learning an instrument off their own bat. A sound idea, but I've no idea how it will work...
I'm sorry, I've really gone on. But the thing is, I have had so much enjoyment from learning instruments and that would have been true even if I hadn't gone on to be a musician. You hear so many people wishing they'd learnt an instrument, or not given up, it would be so lovely to hear that less in the future! And there are so many other benefits to learning an instrument......
anyway - shut up blethering! I'd love to hear other's ideas on all this though.