Is sight singing necessary?

[Sarie]

Hello!

I am a beginner violin player, and bought this course mainly to train my ear so that I can know when I am playing in key and when I am not.
I don't intend to sing in a choir, and I am struggling with the vocal exercises in the beginner's course. I cannot consistently use my voice to produce the sound that I know it has to sound like. My voice isn't my instrument; my violin is. I am pretty good at the dictation exercises - I hear the notes and I can press the keys that match, so I can identify the notes. I just cannot produce those notes accurately with my voice. Do I need to bother with the sight singing at all? Should I get my violin out and see if I can match the notes playing instead of singing? I know the program can't pick up whether I'd be right or not, but if I can't tell myself, I do have an app that could verify. Thoughts? Any insight would be appreciated!

Best,
Sarie

[Quentin]

Sight-singing is a direct connection between your inner hearing (the music you hear in your head), your sight-reading skills (the music you see) and the physical world (the music you produce as a direct connection to your hearing and sight). Practicing sight-singing will strengthen those connections and improve your aural skills very effectively.

You can also play the notes of the exercises with your violin, thereby turning the sight-singing activity into a sight-reading activity, but it won't serve the intended purpose of the exercises.

I don't know the consequences of skipping sight-singing altogether. It seems some schools don't insist on that skill as much as others, but usually sight-singing is mandatory for all students regardless of their instrument.

There are a lot of academic studies on this matter, but there doesn't seem to be any clear consensus.

[Sarie]

Okay, thank you.