BillyG said
@Demoiselle wrote -

I am the decider, not Handel, not Bach, not Monsieur Marais (a composer at the sun king's court). The ability to improvise makes me free and I can grow on that way.

  LOL - so true....  it is all an "evolution" - and indeed - although often said, I don;t believe it - "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"  - no - personally I don't think it is.  What is more enlightening is to take some work, giving attribution to the original author / composer / player of course - and then "making it your own".   Which is precisely what you do !   So - keep on doing it !    

I would do it anyway, but in the case of Marais' Sonnerie there is no other way. Whoever knows it and hears me say, I'm gonna play it, replies, "No, you cannot, it is way to difficult for you." But why shouldn't I at least profit from it's wonderful baroque 'boogie woogie' rhythm? The rest will grow.

While searching the baroque/classical music play-alongs in the store, the lady said, "Now you're looking under basson, you're not playing bassoon..." I tried to explain to her why it doesn't matter, but she obviously couldn't wrap her head around it. Finally she reminded me, I could get the music book too, and was again astonished when I explained I didn't need it.

Well, someday I might buy that sheet music to use the basic subjects and play that the first 16 bars and the rest will be improvisation. But I will probably change some phrases in there. Like a jazz musician never plays exactly Gershwin's notes.

Now I even take E major sonatas and transpose them in my wave-file editor to F major. I don't play E major yet, but having one more sonata in F is great. Which is not at all a brilliant idea, but people find it unusual because they're afraid of the old masters and that prevents them from doing things.

Handel 'stole' from Georg Muffat, changed it and made it his own very interesting work. And I like both versions.

MACJR said

Actually, I did listen, and understand what you were saying. I was making an observation about playing the full sonata, should I ever reach something even close to that skill level.  
Since I have an interest in history, I do not mind looking into things now and again. History is not one of my main interest, but it is among my side interests.
As with art, I do not feel that you need to know, in detail, the history of art and artist to make art. I feel the same about music. It may be beneficial, in many ways, but not essential. Just how I see it.
As for music, I will learn more about what I like as I gather and play more and more sheet music. A lot of old folk songs are fun to play, as are some of the classics.
I do like Beethoven works, but there is always, and I mean always, at least one set of measures that throws me off every time, in every tune he did, that I have played so far. It is like, where the heck did that come from, and why?
Some like to spice up their music with things like that, but for the unsuspecting beginner, they are like traps or mine fields.  
MACJR  

 

You will probably mix styles and make it all together just one personal style.

I thought about the viola question again, and came to the result, you can listen to violin players as well and also profit from them. I recently heard a viola concerto and found the player made it very violin-like when playing higher notes. In fact I was first assuming it was a violin and astonished when the radio announcer said it was a viola.

I now see again how people are really different in their ideas. The concept I use for my work at the violin would probably not help you at all.

My final violin solo in Greensleeves is influenced by Tanya LaPerrière you already heard in the middle of above examples. That is baroque, which is pretty much what I've been listening to since I started on violin. So Greensleeves should sound very much baroque and somehow a bit like Tanya (if you ignore the fact that I'm much worse most certainly) who I really-really adore. I should have her in a gold frame....yes, I'm gonna do that after Christmas..... LOL

Here is another video with Tanya--I think this example is probably best to compare to my Greensleeves version.

I absolutely hear that I'm coming from her. I listened to her CD "VERSO VENEZIA" a lot since I started on violin. Also to other CDs of the same style, but Tanya influenced me most. I also watch her videos carefully which causes that she at times pops up on my mind while I practice. Which is showing me exactly how to play a phrase--especially short notes, which just came without practicing. Her body language is very speaking, she's downright acting while playing.

https://youtu.be/VXRnbwGJQG8

So the good influence doesn't come from me, it's coming all from her.

I've found the right teacher. She started to study violin at a music college at age 13 and she studied twice: first classical music, then jazz and composition. She's not just a musician, she's a genius. Next Thursday I go to her studio and I know it's gonna be incredible....

Charles said
Congrats on a successful search.   A good teacher than you can get along with can make a huge difference.  

Well, the main work will remain on my side. Her job is correction, which certainly will help a lot. For the first lesson my idea is, that she improvises a piano accompaniment and carefully watches my improvisation. As soon as she feels like interrupting she will and this is going to be about blockades in my body posture, as possibly on my mind. She has carefully studied these things. I will then mind her critic during my daily work. The point is, I know, if she plays piano, this will inspire me like nothing before! I will not unlikely improvise better than ever before. In other words, I will feel like in heaven, because she's a highly professional artist and I never had such great accompanist before. I will be very relaxed, but guess she will nonetheless find points where I could relax more. I'm very optimistic.

Another option will be, she improvising a phrase and me having to repeat it. Then we can analyze why she sounds better than me. The point is, hearing her before I play, will certainly influence the quality of my tone. She will give me ideas how to sound differently and what ways to get there.

Another point will be the quality of violin and bow. Where would she invest first? I would invest in a new bridge if she told me the violin was great, because I want a bridge for left-handed people. I do play a right-handed violin left-handed, so the bridge is not curved in an ideal way: I have to reach from above over the curve to reach the E string. Which works great, but I would prefer the E string to come up a couple millimeters nonetheless. Which still shouldn't be too much headaches. There have been people doing artistic things even with their feet who have no arms at all! Reaching a bit from above for the E strings should be no to big obstacle. People cleave too much to old theory and old practice. There are many alternatives. But I'd like to change that bridge curve for I'd like that better.

MACJR said
At some point, I would like to try a left hand violin. ............

That makes a big difference for left-handed people. My left hand is way stronger, faster and more sensitive than my right hand. I was fencing years ago and tried to train my right hand to get as good as my left hand. It did not work! Of course fingering on the fingerboard would be easier if done by my left hand, but the quality of sound and expression comes from the bow hand and the far more handier left side of my body is bound to do that job.

Today it is undisputed that the quality of script is much better if left-handers write with their left hand. They did teach me to write with my right hands in the 60s, but it doesn't look good. And that's exactly what they found out: training left-handers on right means lower quality in hand writing. I certainly use the stronger hand for bowing. I could improve my right hand, but this is not just a technical matter and after all a question of artistic quality of expression. No compromising there. I can fix screws with my right hand, but not gonna waste my time on trying bowing there. I will always use the side which has the better potentials. That way I get better results sooner. Anything else would mean slowing down progress and loosing time. Plus never getting to the optimum I can reach while using my left hand. It really seems waste of time to me.