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Here is a little tip that will boost your sight reading skill and general musical appreciation.

It might be a bit difficult for the absolute beginner, but any late beginners should not have much problem with this piece.

Download the the score for Bach cello suite nr. 2 from IMSLP:

Bach Cello Suite nr. 2

Play through the prelude to the best of your ability, making the music as beautiful as possible.
(To make it even more beautiful on the piano just transpose it an octave up)

Then watch this masterclass afterwards:



This idea of sight reading cello and violin parts is really fun and educational. Especially when you watch a masterclass afterwards.

When I was a high school music student, the piece that was and continues to be very much part of the violin repertoire was Bourree from Bach Cello Suite #3 (BWV1009) in C. As far as playing is concerned, the piece was transposed from the original C to G (1 sharp) so that the violin players sort of keep the same fingerings as those playing solo cello. Many high school students are not very advanced in their violin / cello playing. Besides having issues with tuning, playing double stops (2, 3 or even 4 notes at a time) is a challenge. People who are into piano, playing 4 or more notes at a time is not uncommon. For someone like myself who learned to play violin in the past, playing 2 notes (2 adjacent strings) with the bow in tune is not easy to master unless both notes are open strings (played without having to press the note with a finger on the left hand).

The Bourree from Suite #3 that students in my class learned involves playing mostly 1 note at a time except for the 2 double stops (3-note at a time) in the top half and the double note at the end. Every time we came to a spot with a double stop, some of us would play with a slight hiccup.

All the pieces that are in the cello repertoire can be played with a bass or viola because the tuning of the strings is the same (C-G-D-A) but with a violin, all the pieces need to be transposed up a 5th because the tuning of the strings is (G-D-A-E) in order to keep roughly the same fingerings except for different # sharps & flats.

I have fond memories of this piece. I used to hear it in my home, played on a viola. I also watched the video. I would say that as an exercise like the one you propose, "sight reading" is totally the wrong approach. The point is to bring life into the music so that it doesn't become an endless succession of correctly played note. In order to bring life into it, you must first understand the music by analyzing and studying it. Where are the phrases? How does one phrase relate to another phrase and how might you contrast them? What are key notes that you would want to emphasize, and why, in what manner? To do that, you have to study the score and understand it. That seems to have been a main point in the lecture or masterclass.