Muscle memory? Moving-do?

[rei]

I find that the exercises are more doable when I rely on muscle memory or moving-do solfege in my head -- but both of these seem to me to be "cheating", especially the moving-do, as it is slow and ends up being impractical in determining chords that don't begin on the tonic.

Muscle memory is quite limited for me, since I play violin (and not piano at all). Once the pitches go out of range, I need to make the additional step of transposing up one octave.

Should I learn piano for this purpose? Or should I at least try to identify intervals and chords entirely by ear? Is there a way to escape moving-do solfege?

Thanks in advance,

Rei

[Quentin]

There are quite a number of countries where movable-do solfege is not used at all, and where fixed-do solfege is preferred (Italy, France, etc.). There are pros and cons for both systems, and you are free to decide which one you would like to use in EarMaster.