"Bad musicians cannot hear what they are playing; mediocre one could hear it, but they don’t listen; average musicians hear what they just played; only good musicians hear what they are going to play." -Edgar Willems (1890-1978) Belgian music psychologist and pedagogue
I was relieved to know I was not alone when I read this from Lyman Bodman, retired professor of string pedagogy at Michigan State University, in his Essays on Violin Pedagogy:
One basic premise of Kodály’s philosophy is that the voice is the first instrument, and you cultivate musical sensibilities at first through singing. You find most Kodály programs being conducted in elementary school general music classes and also in choir programs. There are not many string instrument applications, with the notable exception of Colourstrings developed by Geza Silvay, a very fine Finnish string educator. (See Helsinki strings, etc.)
Another premise is that folk songs from the cultural heritage of the student should be used as first study material. Therefore, a more authentic and useful program for American students would include music from North American and English speaking cultures, as opposed to Hungarian and Finnish folk music. For well over a decade, I have been involved with developing a string curriculum which uses this material and which integrates with typical Kodály-based singing musicianship classes that are being used in the elementary school.