Repertoire for student with limited left hand motion.

[lolin3353]

I have recently begun teaching a student who has limited playing abilities with her left hand because of a physical disability. She can only use one finger in her left had to play at a time. However, she is very bright, and is quickly progressing beyond the simple pieces that I have found. I hate to hold her back by only learning the right hand of pieces.

I am hoping to find some good ideas for more challenging pieces of music (intermediate - low advanced) that either use only single notes in the left hand or could be rewritten to use only one note at a time in the left hand.

I would also love any suggestions you might have. Had you taught a student with a similar issue? What techniques did you find to be most effective? 

[visitor]

Will keep kicking around in my head and post more but immediately chopin op 10 no 1 comes to mind . Very little modification needed ( drop the upper octave double and relax the tempo so he can prep ear and move the hand to each position on time).

I commend you on your dedication to this student and wish you both the best.

-V

[indianajo]

Perhaps it is time to introduce her to The Real Fake Book.  Most of pop music, the string bass player takes the bass line and the keyboard player uses the right hand only.  She can play one note of the chords with the left hand to make it a little more interesting by herself. 
Other than that I'm no help. I was naturally severely left handed and my teacher took pains to find classical repretoire that had an interesting left hand part.  Thank goodness piano finally gave me control of my right hand, to use doorknobs and can openers in a right handed world. 

[lolin3353]

Thanks for the idea. I think that could be a great chance to sharpen her improvisational skills, though I really am wanting to focus in on classical music at this point. Because pop music is just that, "popular music", she tends to rely on her ear more than her eyes for music, and we're really working to push her sight-reading and music reading skills to the next level. But I look forward to the time when we can use your idea. 

[lolin3353]

Thanks for the input. I'd definitely look into using that in our lessons.

[timothy42b]

Teach her organ, she can use her feet on the pedalboard.

They make pedal pianos and harpsichords but they are rare. 

[brogers70]

You could try the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin. They're great music, and not all movements are hard for the right hand alone. The use of an occasional left hand finger would help with some large multiple stops/chords at a few points. And they're real music, not something simplified.