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Foss Music Hall, the first independent music building in North Dakota, was constructed in 1962. The building was named
for Palmer Leonard Foss, a North Dakota senator who served education well and who had a special love for music.
Foss Hall has 17,880 square feet of space. On the first floor is Froemke Recital Hall, seating 220 and equipped with a
state-of-the-art recording and video projection system (large ensemble concerts are presented in VCSU's Vangstad Auditorium).
The Recital Hall was named after Arthur L. Froemke, a member of the music faculty from 1929-1960, director of the college
band and Chair of the Department.
Also located on Foss Hall first floor are the band/orchestra rehearsal room and the choir rehearsal room with a 7' Steinway
grand piano; the Music Department office; spacious faculty studios; band and choral libraries; a recording studio; a conference room;
and instrument storage areas. On the second floor are two large classrooms, one a multi-media classroom outfitted with a Korg X5
8-station group piano lab; a multi-media laboratory; an e-practice room; a new Yamaha class piano laboratory; faculty studios;
practice rooms; student lockers; and storage for music education materials and costume and formal wear.
All VCSU faculty and students have new IBM Thinkpad notebook computers. The first floor computer laboratory/recording studio houses a
Roland VS-2480 24-bit recorder/mixer/CD burner with direct access to the Froemke Auditorium's condenser microphones. A variety of
excellent microphones are available, including a Neumann U89i. The lab also contains two computer systems, a PC and a Mac G4,
both connected via MIDI to Korg X5 keyboards. A Tascam U-122 allows for smooth recording options among various inputs and outputs. The
computers are connected to the university LAN for transfer of files and printing.
The PC workstation contains a copy of Cakewalk Home Studio and various other audio design programs such as Sound Forge, Cool
Edit Pro, and Acid Pro. Music students work with SmartMusic, Coda Music's new accompaniment system, as well as Finale notation software.
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