Phoenix cellist helps kids, teens learn what music can do for their community

There is no better feeling for a musician than ending a live performance to the sound of applause from the audience. For Carlito Stewart, however, seeing his students fulfill that dream is his greatest reward.

“I love seeing my students reach their goals and know that they feel the same way I do when they play and do well,” Stewart said.

Stewart never imagined that growing up listening to his father's collection of jazz, rock, R&B, blues and soul music would influence his love of musical instruments, leading him to become a cellist and an instructor from a very young age.

Today, at 27, Stewart continues to help children and young adults achieve their dreams by learning to play instruments at Rosie's House, a music academy in downtown Phoenix that offers free music programs and lessons to families in the Valley.

Rosie's House's mission is to remove barriers and provide access to high-quality music education. The program currently serves more than 550 students from all areas of Phoenix, of whom 87% are Latino. Stewart is one of two instructors who speak Spanish at the academy.

Over the last decade, Stewart has dedicated his career to helping others grow through learning to play a musical instrument — a skill, he said, goes beyond helping just individuals, but also helps nourish communities.

A love of stringed instruments

Born in Chicago, Stewart and his family arrived in Arizona with his family when he was just 1 year old. His affinity for musical instruments showed early on in elementary school — violin in third grade, then guitar and finally cello by age 9.

According to his mother, Celia Muñoz Stewart, he wasn't into any sports when he was a kid, choosing to experiment with several instruments when in school. “I said 'maybe it's good that you look for music, let's see if there is an instrument you like,'" Muñoz said, adding that once he started playing the cello, there was no going back.

Once he got into Highland High School in Gilbert, his passion for playing the instrument only grew. The school at the time had four orchestras playing at different levels, Stewart said.

“I liked the challenge of moving in each orchestra, since each one had a different level. I was able to skip a few," he said. Once he made it to the fourth and most advanced orchestra on campus, he was also assisting the instructor when teaching the third level orchestra. "I liked it and I think I learned a lot from this teacher,” Stewart said.

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At that time, it never crossed his mind to become an instructor, despite peers constantly asking him for help when rehearsing.

“I had friends who (would ask) 'can you show me?' and I wondered 'why are they asking me?' I would tell them 'ask your teacher,'" Stewart said.

But that changed when at age 16 he helped develop and grow StringPlay, a summer music camp in Gilbert dedicated to developing creative styles of musical performance.

The camps started with high school students, but in its fourth year, they added middle school students.

“I started StringPlay with Taylor Morris, a mentor who was in a band traveling and playing all over the world. He is from Arizona, he came back and started teaching at schools," Stewart said. "When he was (at my school), I started talking to him, creating and playing sounds. He asked me if I wanted to start a camp... and I accepted."

The StringPlay camps are held every summer in Gilbert, and Stewart continues to be one of the instructors. They have different levels of instruction and teach teenagers how to master the violin, viola and cello.

“I started that camp when I was 16 years old… This camp is the greatest pride of my life because I started it when I was in high school and now it's 10 years old,” Stewart said.

A teenage cello instructor

At 17, Stewart began teaching cello lessons at Rosie's House.

His cello teacher at Highland High School was also an instructor at Rosie's House. But when she need to take maternity leave, she encouraged Stewart to become her substitute, teaching two classes throughout the year. “She gave me the confidence to teach children. When I started, I thought I couldn't teach anything,” Stewart said.

Those classes changed his entire outlook on becoming an instructor, his mother said. She recalled him returning home very happy after his lessons. “He always told me that he wasn't going to be a teacher, that he was never going to teach, but he liked it,” said Muñoz.

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While substituting at Rosie's House, Stewart graduated from high school and went on to study his associate's degrees in music and business at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

At the age of 22, when Stewart was in his second year of college, Catherine Reid, then the music program director at Rosie's House, offered him a full-time position as an instructor in Tucson. The commute ultimately led Stewart to decline that offer.

But when Reid called once more the following year, Stewart finally agreed, saying that a previous teacher of his pushed him to take the job.

“She convinced me that I couldn't walk away from this opportunity, that it was one small step to open more doors in my future, and so I accepted and started working with Rosie's House,” Stewart said.

His move to Tucson also got him into the University of Arizona where he began studying music with a focus in cello performance under the direction of Dr. Theodore Buchholz.

His work at Rosie's House sparked in him a love of teaching, where he saw a chance to pass on the knowledge shared by a number of mentors and teachers.

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Rosie's House was founded in 1996 by Rosie's Schurz, a German immigrant who opened a music school in downtown Phoenix as a place for positive youth development. According to Israel Reyes, program manager at Rosie's House, lessons are offered for a variety of instruments — from cello to mariachi — and students as young as kindergarteners and young adults can sign up.

The music academy not only develops the musical and academic skills of its students but also helps develop their leadership skills.

According to Reyes, Stewart, who teaches cello and other orchestral instruments, is always willing to help — students as well as others. "He's the type of teacher that when we have events... he is one of those people who frequently support and help us,” Reyes said. “He is a very good teacher. The students love taking his class.”

'What music can do in your community'

In addition to being an instructor, Stewart has performed with various ensembles at different venues across the country.

Working closely with renowned violinist and StringPlay conductor Taylor Morris, Stewart has performed at numerous public schools, community venues and also at a benefit concert for the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

He performed as a member of the Scottsdale Community College Cello Ensemble, with his former cello instructor Jenna Dalbey of the Tetra String Quartet for over two and a half years.

Throughout the years, he has played alongside renowned musicians such as Grammy award-winning cellist Mike Block, violinist Lauren Rioux and cellist Rushad Eggleston.

Although Stewart initially did not want to be a teacher, his work at Rosie's House changed his perspective.

“He has such a passion for working at Rosie’s House. He loves working there and watching the children grow. He sometimes shares how children react when they start and how they progress. That is the passion that I see in him, the growth of the children and the love that they have for music and do not realize and how it is growing by the end of the year”, said Muñoz.

Stewart said he tries to instill in his students not only a love of music, but confidence, altruism and a hunger to learn.

“I learned from my teacher that it is not just the love of music, but seeing beyond — what music can do in your community, what it can do with your emotions. And that it is a strong tool. I try to teach that to children,” Stewart said.

It's a process for all students and he said that's the most amazing part: to be a part of it.

“The most difficult thing as a teacher is to find or see students who are hungry to learn... I can see when they can't do something because they aren't practicing, but I see when they are taking baby steps and when their confidence is growing. It's quite a process, but that's amazing (to see)," Stewart said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How one cellist instructor helps build up Latino youth through music