How can I tell if a piece I want to play is too difficult to sight-read for me?

[mathandmusic]

I think my current approach towards improving my sight reading skill is ineffective. To be honest, I'm certain I'm developing bad habits traditional teaching methods try to help pianists avoid.

First off, I don't have any knowledge as to how to gauge the difficulty of pieces. If I like a song, I try to play it! I remember trying to decode Scriabin Etude Op. 8 No. 12 but stopped after several measures. I love the piece and certainly could have continued but I had a gut feeling that I was not going to improve my sight-reading skills at all, going about learning it the way I did.

My method is very crude but since it "works", I figured it was the way to go:
1) Analyze the song, being specially attentive to the rhythm and melody
2) Master playing each measure or phrase of a piece. Decode the sequence of notes in the treble and bass cleft and the values of each note. Play them while trying to replicate the rhythm heard in analysis. Refer to the section of the song to listen to the rhythm.
3) Practice playing the measure until I remember and can play the measure without the sheet music. "Memorize" where and when each finger belongs.
4) Learn the next measure/phrase of a piece. Then, play the previous measure/phrase by memory and incorporate the next phrase, referring to the section of the song as necessary.
5) Look up dynamics/special symbols and incorporate them after the entire song is memorized.

This seems like a rote and tedious method for memorizing a piece but it seems to work despite my poor sight-reading skills. Still, I never feel as though I get a "sight-reading workout". My routine needs to change but I don't know what to try to unlearn and what to try and learn/relearn.

[j_menz]

Not many people could sight read a Scrabin etude.  If you want to improve your sight reading, it's as simple as practicing it.  Start with pieces significantly easier than ones you would choose to play, and move on from there.

Mozart believed proper sight reading was done at pace, and with all the dynamics etc in place. For lesser mortals, nearly at pace and with most of the dynamics should be fine.