I can just barely read standard musical notation but it’s far from fluent. I’m wondering if, with enough practice you can look at sheet music that you have never heard or seen before and sound it out in your head before ever touching your instrument?
Back when I sight read, I was more of an up and down sound kind of reader. Like, I wouldn’t think of the exact sound of a middle C, but I would have a sound that I called the C and go up and down from there as the piece went up and down the scale. Somewhere in there I’d also think about where the note that I’m seeing on the page would be played on the instrument.