I believe it felt odd to me because most tetris games I play have a different layout. "Up" is usually instant drop, "Down" is fast drop, and then there is an "A" button for rotating clockwise and "B" button for rotating counterclockwise.
Tab is fine for swapping boards. I would have also like a "hold" for blocks but it definitely isn't needed for a game jam.
Just to throw out an unsolicited idea, maybe what have happened is that the "weight" of cleared lines stayed on each side to force you to balance the boards even when you are good at tetris (there would need some extra coding and visuals to go with it, and I know that I was already rushing to finish my own game so calling for extra work feels a little hollow lol).