I recently switched to viola, and I love it! I'm six feet tall, so naturally I have really long fingers and arms, and big hands as well, and playing the viola is much more natural than playing the violin now. I was having some trouble when I first started playing viola for fun as far as reading alto clef goes. However, when I picked it up again about seven months ago and was thrown into the viola secion in orchestra, (one of the first pieces we played was Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings). THEN I learned how to read alto cleft, (and quickly too). I started out on a fifteen and a half inch, and then recently switched to a seventeen inch. I can play it no problem, it fits me well. But, I heard that I would probably be more comfy playing a sixteen and a half. Anybody got any advice on this?

(BTW: Bruch Romance for Viola is a great piece, pretty challenging, but beautiful. It uses all the strings alot, and has a beautiful melody that will get stuck in your head after no time. Yuri Bashmet has a great recording of it.)