I have 2 beginner questions with sub questions for (sight) reading.
The first question (this might be a rather dumb question), but i've been struggling with this for a while now. How do I count the rhythm in my head like (1 e 2 e 3 e 4 e) and also think to myself "oh, these notes are A - B - C - G etc". Whenever i focus on reading the note i sometimes lose track of rhythm. Whenever i focus on rhythm i notice i start unintentionally focusing on different stuff, for instance i look at the distance between the note and the note after (or it shows the fingering and i look at that). I might just read the first note and sort of follow along, but i find myself losing track of where i am especially when there are bigger jumps involved or when there are eight notes. When someone would ask me can u start again from the note D, i would have to search the whole part i just played to find it. Can anyone tell me what the process in your head is while sight reading? Do you think the rhythm and notes outloud or do you think 1 outloud and do the other subconsciously?
My second question has to do with reading both treble and bass clef and also involves the question above. How do i then convert this to reading both clefs. I've heard u read down up, so first note of the bass clef then treble clef and so fort. I usually start at practicing the clefs seperate. But when i try both together i find myself gravitating to the treble clef depending more on memory in the left hand then actual reading. So in the corner of my eye i see that there is something else played in the left hand and in my memory i think to myself "A came after the B so i have to play the B now". I don't actually read that note (i think), i might see that the note goes up or down but the distance seems harder to identify and i can't seem to read the actual note. I tried slowing down the metronome alot but my teacher says below 40 BPM is ridiculously slow and i should force myself to keep making mistakes. My question is how should i practice reading both? should i focus on other skills before doing this? What do i look at what can i ignore? should focus my eyes to look at the white space between the treble and bass clef?
Whenever i ask my piano teacher these questions he doesn't really give me a direct answer.. He gives me pieces like 'Minuet in G' and acts surprised that i struggle with it. Even though we only did a little bit of reading like songs which have the chords names above the treble clef and try to play along the music not really fosuced on being in rhythm with melody. We now start focusing more on just rhythm without pitch, which is going decent compared to what it was.. But when it comes to reading sheet i feel so lost and not taken serious by my teacher.
PS: Sorry if my english is bad, It's not my native language. Feel free to ask me more questions if my problem is too vague.