need advice on something

[shotkong64x]

Ive been taking lessons for about 5 months now, and practicing religiously.  now, the teacher i see only teaches beginners up to about an intermediate level, and then they "Graduate" to her husband who is absolutely amazing (his name is joe grandiose if any of you have heard of him).  so, the teacher im seeing now wants me to move up to him already since she thinks i am at the level.  the only thing is,  I feel like Im like a 1 trick horse here..  I can play 3 or 4 semi difficult peices ( a beethoven eccossaise in Eb major and and a clementi sonatina op 36.  no.6 in particular)  but if you gave me a simple 1 page peice it would take me like an hour before i can play it fluently.  Is this normally how people progress?  I feel like i just learned the peices and i am able to play it through muscle memory.  I practiced these peices measure by measure and scrupulously worked out any fingering problems i was having, and then eventually my fingers did the thinking for me.

what i want to know is would it be best to stick with the beginner teacher and maybe stay at the level im at for a bit before moving up?  cause im afraid that i went too fast and missed out on some important technical things that i should of picked up if i went a little slower.  ESPECIALLY sight reading.. i cant sight read for the life of me.

Cheers,
justin

[Bob]

Sight-reading is a very different skill than preparing the traditional weekly lesson pieces.  You have to read through lots of pieces that are well below the level of the prepared pieces you play.  Working on sight-reading rhythms, instantly analyzing a piece (or taking what you can get from yourself in the glancing time avaiable)....

I don't think it's uncommon for someone taking traditional classical piano lessons to have trouble sight-reading.  I didn't work on it for years.

Tell you current teacher your concerns.  You could always suggest sticking with her until the end of this current time period is up (assuming she teaches by semesters).

Sounds like you've got a goal to work on with your next teacher.