It all began with a circus, and years later an Australian musician still enthuses in bringing joy to the young

Peter Winkler is a man who knows about the long wait. He is also someone who knows when to say "Go" and when to say "Stop".

The wait he has just endured has lasted eight years, but that will finally end on Aug 20 when the children's musical Five Fools premiers at Gulou West Theater in Beijing. Bringing the show to the stage in Beijing is particularly close to Winkler's heart because it is based on a rollicking circus story that reflects his own career, and the wait reflects trials he and others faced in bringing the Beijing staging to fruition.

"I like being with children," says the 62-year-old. "Bringing more musical shows to children and helping cultivate their love for music is my top priority."

Five Fools was performed in South Korea for nine years to great acclaim, he says, but Beijing audiences will see something slightly different.

"We have added many Chinese elements such as acrobatics and Peking Opera skills to the show that are special to Chinese audiences. There will also be more opportunities for children to interact, and the musical's four songs are easy to learn."

"Going by what happened in South Korea, I am absolutely confident that Chinese children and their parents will enjoy the performance."

Winkler's long wait began when he first came to China in 2007 and a visit to the National Theater For Children in Beijing left a lasting impression.

"I watched two shows at the theater, and the performance was wonderful, with high-quality production and impressive costumes, sets and lights."

At that time, Winkler had planned to bring shows to China that had been highly successful in Australia and South Korea. Those plans were scotched for logistics reasons, but Winkler never gave up on the idea of one day putting on a show in China.

"With the eight years that I have prepared for this, it's like a dream finally coming true as the premier approaches," Winkler says.

Long preparation times are not new to the Australian Winkler, who put years of planning into the opening ceremony for the Paralympics in Sydney 15 years ago, for which he was the composer and music director.

In fact, he says, children's shows are the perfect preparation for young folk if they are to take up the baton and become the theatergoers of the future.

"If we introduce them to good-quality theater, when they grow up they will continue going to the theater."

Learning through the arts

Winkler, who sees educating children musically as a part of his life's mission, suggests that Chinese parents take their children to more bilingual musicals so they can soak up the arts of dance, humor, music and singing together.

"Children can learn to speak and sing in English in a very funny and easy way, which is very different from classroom learning.

"Staging musical shows for children is one of the best ways, in my experience in foreign countries, to cultivate children's sense of the arts, especially for music. There is no age barrier. Music and body language will help them understand and submerge themselves in it."

Research shows that a musical education properly dispensed at an early age is a happier, more productive and an all round better experience than later training, he says.

"I have heard some children in China complain that their parents force them to study music, such as playing piano. That happens in Australia, too.

"It's true that not everybody is musically gifted, but everybody can achieve something. I have a friend who can't sing that well, but he is a very good drummer."

Winkler counsels against forcing a child to study music, which is where his discernment on knowing where to draw the line comes in.

"A little encouragement is good and even necessary, but discipline isn't. I have two children who are now grown up. When they were 4 or 5 I taught them a few piano techniques. I found they were very interested in playing at times, but they did not like it at others. That's fine. Instead of forcing them to play, I would encourage them to stop. So they felt they were respected."

To his surprise, both became very good guitar players when they grew up, and one still plays piano very well.

"They are not making a living out of music, but music makes them happy and adds a bit of color to their lives."

Winker advises Chinese parents to cultivate their children's interest for music when they are 4 or 5, even if playing instruments such as the piano or violin may prove too difficult.

"The best approach is for the family to listen to music together to have some fun and enjoyment. But the choice of music is very important."

Winkler lived in South Korea for nine years, and while there concluded that the country needs more composers interested in writing music for children.

"I think China faces the same kind of problem. How you encourage talented composers to compose more songs for children and at the right ages is really important."

Winkler says that when he was in high school there was a band that rather than playing pop and R&C, or singing in pubs and bars, composed and sang songs for children and performed in hospitals and prisons.

From music to the circus

In addition to being director of many television series and having a string of titles to his name, including that of director of the Australian Country Music Academy, Winkler has a Diploma of Education and a Certificate of Music Recording from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and is a qualified early childhood educator.

"That experience inspired me to devote myself to children's musical education. After I graduated, I joined a circus and we traveled all around Australia performing for six years for children. We had a bus, and wherever the bus stopped, the ground out front was our stage. We weren't performing for money, but just giving these children the chance to enjoy music in front of their homes. That circus experience is my fondest memory, and it's why we composed the show Five Fools, which is based on a circus story."

Winkler says his love for children springs from the time he studied for his first diploma as a teacher for the young. He could well have gone down any other musical avenue and made a lot of money after becoming well known. He chose musical education for children as a career, he says, inspired by something that had happened to him years earlier.

"We performed at the Sydney Opera House for many years and did special shows for disabled children, for example the blind. We used to take them there early so we could explain what the show was about, describe the costumes and let them touch and feel them.

"I used to play clarinet, and I let one girl touch the instrument as I played a short rhythm for her to feel the sound. Years later she attended the show again, with her parents, and I learned she had become a very successful clarinet player. Her parents told me she had chosen the clarinet because of that experience with me years earlier.

"I really love Beijing and China, and I'm wondering whether I can bring the community music project to China."