As a former Kodaly-inspired primary music specialist, and now a Vygotskian scholar, researcher, and teacher educator, I have often been struck by the synergies in the understandings about teaching and learning that have developed from the inspiration of these two educational ‘greats’. However, there is very little literature that explicitly connects Vygotskian theory and Kodaly-inspired teacher practice. In this conceptual paper, I will examine how an analysis of Kodaly-inspired pedagogical practice can be theorised using key concepts drawn from Vygotsky’s work (e.g. everyday/scientific concepts, social mediation, internalisation, the zone of proximal development, cultural tools, affective cognition, the role of play etc.). Given that broader contemporary educational debates frequently pit constructivist approaches to learning and teaching (i.e. inquiry learning, whole language etc.) against neuro-cognitive explanations and pedagogies (i.e. cognitive load theory, explicit direct instruction etc.), a conscious understanding of how Vygotskian theoretical concepts relate to long-standing Kodaly practices could potentially provide music teachers with new perspectives for deeper and more deliberate reflection on practice and provide a shared language for professional discussions with other teachers.I will argue that the typical Kodaly pedagogical sequence of ‘prepare, present (make conscious), practice’ for teaching musical concepts within the context of authentic musical participation is the perfect demonstration that constructivist and explicit instruction approaches are not incompatible, and in fact are mutually reliant on each other within Kodaly-inspired music programs. I also argue that this can hold true for teaching in all subject areas, and yet the broader field of education is renowned for extreme ‘pendulum swings’ in pedagogical practice from one extreme to the other. Currently, Australian education is in the grips of a strong swing away from constructivist approaches, and explicit direct instruction has become the mandated instructional model in several state jurisdictions. While initial attention was focused primarily on reading and maths instruction, this model is now being extrapolated out to all subject areas and music teachers are increasingly reporting pressure to adopt what they consider to be inappropriate pedagogical practices in their music classrooms. A theorised understanding of Kodaly practice could help provide an evidence-informed argument for a unified approach to pedagogy that successfully draws upon both constructivist and explicit strategies at appropriate times in the teaching/learning cycle. This is an argument that has implications not just for music teachers, but for all teachers.