Thanks for the suggestions! There are a few advanced techniques I haven't put in a tutorial yet which cover some of the things you asked for. You can instantly squeeze a piece into place by tapping "down", and you can actually instantly squeeze a piece and lock it by holding "down" and "space" at the same time. You can also drop, rotate or move pieces immediately after they appear by holding the appropriate keys. ...There is a fast way of doing everything! But, at the start it is hard enough just to remember the slow way.
If you want a taste of the faster/snappier modes, they're available in Practice Mode if you pick the harder difficulties. The various expert difficulties snap pieces into place way faster, and Marathon/Master approaches Tetris Grand Master speeds if you can survive long enough. I'll eventually work these into the main mode. ...Maybe by the end of November if I'm lucky. I have some big plans!