Practice was often an ordeal for 9-year-old Wang Lingyi, an aspiring piano student from Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, as no amount of hard work was helping her hit the right notes.

But things are changing these days. Lingyi is no longer the reluctant practitioner that she was some time ago. At 6 pm every day she practices for an hour or even more on the piano without fail, making her mother wonder as to how an online tool has made a sea change in her perception and understanding of music.