For over 20 years, F.I.R.S.T. Institute Program Director John LaRosa has been in Recording Arts and Show Production. John’s love for music started at the early age of 3 years old. Since then, John has been developing his passion through various streams of work.
John attended post-secondary school for Audio Engineering. After graduating, John began his role at Hard Rock Live Orlando and later went on to work for big-name artists such as Shaggy. According to John, teaching found him, “I never sought out teaching; teaching truly found me. I started as an Instructor for Recording Arts & Show Production about 15 years ago and have loved it ever since. My daily passion comes from developing the talent of the future,” said LaRosa.
John oversees the RASP (Recording Arts & Show Production) team at F.I.R.S.T. Institute as well as creates and manages all the program content for the students. The F.I.R.S.T. Institute Recording Arts and Show Production program teaches students the fundamentals of multiple facets of the audio industry, including music production, audio engineering, sound for visual media, live sound reinforcement, and audio-visual production.
“Recording Arts and Show Production is not an easy industry; our students work hard to achieve success. The advice I always give instructors when their students are having a tough time is to always break it down to the basics. As education professionals, we are here to let our students know three things – we hear you, we see you, and what you say matters to us.”
According to John, in this industry, your reputation is everything. He has always strived to educate instructors and students over the years on the importance of personal presence, branding, and humbleness. “I was once in a room with Beyonce’s Producer, he ended up offering one of my students a job,” said LaRosa, “my note for anyone wanting to be in this business is to treat every situation like it is a big deal because you never know who is in the room.”
“We are here to teach, and at the end of the day, we value people over profit, that is why students choose F.I.R.S.T. because, over everything, we choose them,” said John.
F.I.R.S.T. Institute is a premier Digital Media School headquartered in Orlando, Florida. F.I.R.S.T. offers hands-on experience for students. Their programs include Recording Arts, Filmmaking, and Graphic Design. To learn more about F.I.R.S.T. Institute visit first.edu.
