Is interval training a waste of time?

I've read several articles about interval training which cast a bad light upon it basically saying that it's a waste of time. I'm going to personally debunk this line of reasoning.

When you learn any foreign language, you first learn its alphabet. Then combinations of letters and how they sound together. Then words, then sentences and then thoughts and ideas. You have to build your knowledge on a solid foundation and it must be progressive.

It's the same with music. The basic building blocks of all music are the intervals. When you learn them and learn how they formulate chords and scales this helps you to understand structure in music. Without it you are lost. There are no shortcuts to solid ear training.

Don't let anyone into suckering you into buying a shortcut "ear training course" which doesn't solidly drill every interval, up, down, melodic, and harmonic into you. This is what you will be building your musical foundation upon.

So what courses are there that will help you to set a real ear awareness foundation?

The following links will provide you with the education you need:

Perfect Pitch Ear Training

Relative Pitch Ear Training

Music Theory Course

Virtual Sheet Music - Sheet Music Downloads

I hope this helps and please let me know how these courses are helping you!

Vasili-