Touch Typing and Piano Playing: An Unexpected Connection
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I have started learning touch typing — and it turned out to be much more interesting than I expected.
Even more surprisingly, this skill has quite a lot in common with piano playing. At first, a computer keyboard and a piano keyboard seem like completely different things. But the principles of hand movement, attention, coordination, and thinking are actually very similar.
The first rule of touch typing is simple:
never look at the keyboard.
Isn’t this exactly what I often remind students about when we talk about sight-reading?
If a pianist constantly looks back and forth between the score and the keys, they lose orientation, rhythm, phrasing, and the inner feeling of the keyboard. In sight-reading, it is very important to gradually learn to feel the keyboard with your hands instead of checking everything with your eyes.
On a computer keyboard, there are two small raised marks on the F and J keys. They help you find the correct hand position by touch. Other keys also help: Space, Enter, Shift, and Backspace all have different shapes and positions.
On the piano, we do not have these small raised marks. But we have something even more powerful — sound.
We do not only feel the keys. We also immediately hear the result. Sound helps us orient ourselves, check what we are doing, and understand whether the musical thought is moving in the right direction.
On a computer keyboard, the feedback is mostly visual: we see the text appearing on the screen. Although we also hear the sound of the keys — they just all sound more or less “at the same pitch” :)
Touch typing teaches economy of movement.
And this is directly connected with piano technique. The less unnecessary movement we have, the faster, freer, and more accurate the hands become.
But “less movement” does not mean “freeze the hands and become stiff.”
On the contrary, I think the hands should stay alive, relaxed, and ready for tiny movements. They are almost constantly “searching” for the right position — but without panic, tension, or unnecessary fuss.
One very important principle is:
think first — then press the key.
This applies both to the computer keyboard and to the piano.
Later, when the skill develops, it starts to feel automatic. But this automatic feeling does not come from chaos. It comes from many conscious repetitions.
There is one more interesting difference.
If you press the wrong letter on a computer keyboard, you can delete it and type again. The mistake is annoying, but not dramatic.
On the piano, however, the wrong key immediately sounds. And it is not just a “wrong letter” — it is a real pitch that may not fit the harmony, the melody, or the musical context.
And what if someone hears it? :)
This is where psychological tension often appears. We start to fear mistakes, play more quietly, more carefully, and less confidently.
But very often, this only makes the problem worse.
That is why during practice it is important not to hide from the keyboard, but to build a clearer and more confident contact with the instrument. Not to become stiff because of possible mistakes, but to gradually learn to play with more clarity and freedom.
In this sense, touch typing is a useful reminder: a skill does not develop through constant visual control. It develops through regular training of attention, feeling, coordination, and trust.
What do you think about the connection between touch typing and piano playing?
Can you already type without looking at the keyboard?
Or would you like to learn it too?
In Slakva Piano Circle, we often discuss practical topics like this: how to practice, how to organize the learning process, how to develop technique, and how to avoid turning practice into boring mechanical work.
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