EdwardianPiano, I don't have an answer to your question about a piano course. I can relate to your feelings about sight reading and will tell you a little of my story.
I struggle with sightreading. On whistle and flute, there is only one note at a time, so the sheet music is much easier, and so is playing by ear. In Irish Traditional Music, learning by ear is the preferred way to learn. Showing up as a new person with sheet music to a traditional session is a good way to become an outcast.
That said, it is the opposite for classical piano. Unless a person has a phenomenal ear, the pieces are often too complex to learn by ear. Most beginners will struggle with that road. Yes some people can do it, but they tend to have tremendous ears for music. Those that don't often spend countless hours decoding a single piece of music.
Where does that leave a pianist that doesn't want to sight read? There are Youtube tutorials that demonstrate where the fingers go. Some folks do far better if they can see someone else demonstrate.
There is ABC notation, which is popular in Irish Traditional Music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_notationThere is an ABC tune archive at:
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind
It is mostly folk tunes and traditional tunes, and the arrangements are hit or miss, so a person often has to do their own piano arrangements. I found the letters far easier to process, than dots and lines.
Back to my story. I never learned to sight read when I was playing whistle or flute. I could sound out a piece from sheets given enough time, but it wasn't sight reading. This was one note at a time treble clef only music, so imagine my dismay when I started piano and saw the piano scores.
With reluctance and a great deal of time and effort, I have learned the rudiments of sight reading. I am even trying to notate some of my original pieces. For piano, I would suggest that a person at least make the effort to learn the treble clef so they can use lead sheets (melody on top, chords on the bottom).
For me, a sightreading tablet app has been most helpful. Also helpful has been notating my own music, and doing my own arrangements for cover pieces. Some other folks like to say the note names as they play. I found this reading out loud to be a good exercise away from the instrument. To take some simple sheet music and call out the note names. Some folks use flash cards. For a long time, I had two index cards next to the piano that had the note letters written out on the clefs.
I still can't do what most people think of as sight reading. Not even after many months of effort. However, I have put the index cards away, I am better at decoding sheet music, and better at notating my own work. I wouldn't call it competency, but it is progress.
Whatever you decide, good luck. You are not alone. I guess that about 15% of folks struggle mightily with sight reading, taking far longer than the typical one or two years of effort to reach a useful skill level. I tend to think it is similar to being dyslexic, that some brains have a hard time processing the dots and lines.
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