In fact, musicians may utilize the movable-do system to label pitches while mentally tracking intervals to determine the sequence of solfège symbols.
This last aspect in particular, requires an ongoing real-time (even anticipatory) analysis of the music that is complicated by modulations and is the chief detriment to the movable-do system.
Some music teachers teach their students relative pitch by having them associate each possible interval with the first two notes of a popular song.
[3] In addition, there are various systems (including solfeggio, sargam, and numerical sight-singing) that assign specific syllables to different notes of the scale.
Aspects of microtonal ear training are covered in Harmonic Experience, by W. A. Mathieu, with sight-singing exercises, such as singing over a drone, to learn to recognize just intonation intervals.
There are also software projects underway or completed geared to ear training or to assist in microtonal performance.
Each type of musical instrument has a characteristic sound quality that is largely independent of pitch or loudness.
For accurate identification and reproduction of musical intervals, scales, chords, rhythms, and other audible parameters a great deal of practice is often necessary.
Exercises involving identification often require a knowledgeable partner to play the passages in question and to assess the answers given.
Similar data tracking software such as MyMusicianship and SonicFit[15] focus on ear training for singers and are licensed by schools and community choirs.
For example, free and open source software under the GPL, such as GNU Solfege, often provides many features comparable with those of popular proprietary products.
[citation needed] Most ear-training software is MIDI-based, permitting the user to customise the instruments used and even to receive input from MIDI-compatible devices such as electronic keyboards.