Thoughts on Things: Muscle Memory

Recently I have been working on my typing. I tend to make a lot of errors when typing, and when I tried to address that, I realized that I do not actually type with both of my hands. I think a lot of us do this, and we only notice it once we take a step back and really see what our fingers are doing down there. In order to remedy this, and in hoping to help with my spelling consistency, I decided to start some typing lessons. 

As I started these lessons I noticed something peculiar, something that I have always known in the back of my head but hadn't seen in full force until I started typing. Despite me being right hand dominate, my left fingers are a lot more controlled. I can type with all the fingers of my left hand with ease, going up and down with each individual finger whilst keeping the rest close to perfectly still. When I try the same feat with my right hand it is a battle of the wills as I have to consciously think where each finger is going and force the ones that are not supposed to be moving to stay put. I can hit each key on my left hand with near perfect accuracy, but the keys on the right struggle to find their matching fingers. I had noticed this once before when I was trying to play a piano. My left hand could fly through the notes with the veracity of one who has played for at least a few years, but my right hand could do little more than chopsticks. It puzzled me as to why I had such a disparity in my right and left dexterities for a few days, when it finally hit me.

I have been playing the cello since I was ten years old, in other words, about 15 years. On a cello the bow is held, and sawed in a back and forth motion, with the right hand. While the fingers do move some, they spend most of their time stationary, gripping the bow. The left hand, on the other (excuse my pun) hand, is used to play the notes. Sliding and pushing and changing position rapidly, depending on the song, the left fingers are in almost constant motion. This difference in hand use has led to me have a drastic difference in both my right and left fingers. 

And apparently that has crossed over into other necessary aspects of my life, like typing. While it really is no bother, I can always train my right hand to do better, I have begun wondering if there are other ways to practice monotonous activities. For example, if I ever get bored of typing maybe I can practice my right hand on the piano for a bit, and with muscle memory in play, it can have the same effect. I don't know, if my abilities with my left hand are any indication, I would say yes.