In music, sight-reading, also called a prima vista (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece of song in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. ... Both activities require the musician to play or sing the notated rhythms and pitches.
and All classically trained musicians learn to read music, but singers have to be able to turn this into notes without using the physical manipulation of the instrument as a guide. This is a tough skill that takes plenty of practice, but you do not need perfect pitch to accomplish this.
It's an important skill for vocalists to have, as it trains the voice, the ears, and the mind simultaneously. ... Aural skills are the ability to hear a pitch and know exactly what note it is. Sight-singing helps refine these skills so that the vocalists can understand a piece of music without having to hear it first.
While an absolute beginner can take up to two years to learn to sight-sing at a high level, a more experienced singer can get there in as little as two months, White says. "They just need a process to be able to apply it."
