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."

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