Good and bad

Good: Finally, I made a recording of the Dvorak that sounds decent. The slow practice seems to help a lot. I will keep doing it. So many times in the past I was not able to think both critically and constructively about how to improve my playing and got to the performance without really being ready. I don't know if I'll be ready for this, but at least I'll be readier than if I weren't trying to solve this.

Bad: My new strings arrived. I put them on as I usually do, one by one, starting with the lowest string (C). When I got to the highest (A), I hooked the end onto the tailpiece and threaded it through the hole in the peg several times in an effort to get it seated so I could tune it up. I finally got it in place, and was carefully pushing on the peg when I heard a "snap!" -- the stupid thing had broken at the wrapping at the top -- defective! I called the place where I bought it, and they will send me a new string and an envelope to send the broken one back. But darn.