ABSTRACT
There is a strong argument to be made that the Western world tends to teach students how to play instruments from the wrong perspective: starting with how to read notation, and then developing significant musicianship and ‘musical’ playing several years later. Music is an aural art form because the main aim of the performer is to please the listener, so the focus should be primarily on sound rather than sight. The foundational principles of the Kodály philosophy lead to the development of a mind that thinks musically. This is done through developing an aural understanding of the various elements of music before teaching the reading of these elements. Kodály-inspired teaching takes the perspective that all initial music education should move from sound to symbol rather than the traditional Western perspective of symbol to sound. As a result of this, musicians will understand the symbol to sound process in a more creative way.
