Jim Lad,

I'm pretty strongly with you on the whole south paw playing right handed issue, but I cannot fairly ignore the fact that as a result of orchestral convention there are left handers who are virtuosos playing the violin right handed.

My feeling, being a jazzer grown from a folk root is that they might have achieved and discovered so much more if they had played left handed, but I can't assert that it is a fruitless, much less impossible task in the face of the evidence.

The ones who have made it all the way wanted to plat in orchestras and that was their dream and taste and who are we to judge that.

It doesn't fit my worldview and doesn't sit comfortably with my instincts, but thats human diversity for you.