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When Belmont Hill faculty members take advantage of the teaching sabbaticals offered after ten years of service, some use the time away from the classroom to travel, work towards advanced degrees, or even enjoy a well earned opportunity to relax. Director of Instrumental Music Dan Fiori took a different approach in 2023 and spent the year immersed in the composing and recording of his debut jazz fusion album Undertow. The record, which was released in May and is available digitally and on vinyl, demonstrates the vast breadth of Mr. Fiori’s musical influences and the level of talent guiding Belmont Hill musicians on their own creative journeys.  

Mr. Fiori first joined Belmont Hill as a visual arts teaching fellow in the 2001-2002 school year. After his year on campus, he enrolled in the prestigious Berklee College of Music for a degree in jazz composition and completed his degree around the same time Belmont Hill was opening the new Prenatt Music Center. Mr. Fiori returned to campus in a new role to build an instrumental music program worthy of the incredible facilities in Prenatt. 

Through all of that time, Mr. Fiori has been writing music. At Belmont Hill, that involves arranging music or writing original works specifically for student groups, but ideas for a larger personal work were always present. "Sometimes I'm arranging from scratch, other times I'm taking a built arrangement but then transposing parts and reassigning who’s going to do what and how to build the sound of the group,” Mr. Fiori said.  “I wanted to make a project that was more about creating a finished piece of work that felt like a full album.”

While the majority of the material on Undertow originated during his sabbatical, many of the songs contain elements or initial ideas that originated years ago. The consistent throughline of the work is his exploration of the jazz fusion genre. 

“When you use the term jazz fusion, usually you’re talking about jazz that has elements that come from anything from rock to R&B to funk, even to electronic music being brought into the mix,” Mr. Fiori said. “The writing process, and even the emphasis on having improvised solos, comes from the world of jazz, but the sound of it might remind you more of Parliament Funkadelic or Jimi Hendrix or Marvin Gaye. It’s drawing in these other kinds of sounds.”
 
That range of influences is evident across Undertow’s nine tracks which Mr. Fiori intentionally composed to stray from a jazz-swing sound. “The feel of the music, the groove elements in the music, are drawn from a more diverse set of styles and in particular styles that tend to have electric pianos, synths, and guitars.”
 
While the album still makes the most of more traditional jazz instruments such as acoustic piano, horns, saxophones, and a live drum set, Mr. Fiori utilizes electric instruments as a way to create a divergent sound. The capabilities of one instrument in particular, a Moog synthesizer, sparked the creative journey that led to Undertow. 
 
“It is true analog circuitry and so it’s almost more like sculpting with clay to create your sound. You’re really building and sculpting the tone of the instrument,” Mr. Fiori said. “It's kind of like an artist making their own paper that they’re then going to draw on or building their own brushes. It feels like that to me, more than just choosing the instrument and playing it.” 
 
Working with the Moog synthesizer and adding it to the other sounds and instruments at his disposal forced Mr. Fiori to write in a different way, which he saw as part of the appeal. “I kind of wanted that to happen to my writing. I wanted my writing to get pulled in a different direction by a different voice.” 

That evolving direction led to nine new compositions, each with its own creative path and process. The fourth track, titled “Arabesque For Nessie,” demonstrates the range of influences inspiring Mr. Fiori’s work, and the creative discoveries that came from experimenting with his instruments. “An arabesque is a classical form of musical, usually piano music with really sweeping arpeggios and very fluid, floral feel to it. So I created textures like that using a synth arpeggiator, so it’s a totally different sounding instrumentation but has the same feel of an arabesque.” 

To accompany this sound, Mr. Fiori created a synth patch that seemed to echo a monster. “It conjured up this feeling, I had this image in my head of night with the moon shining with this call of this creature,” Mr. Fiori noted. “It had a life of its own.”

While the sabbatical time enabled Mr. Fiori to be fully engaged in the process of crafting his own personal work, the experience brought inherent value back to this teaching, and most importantly, to the Belmont Hill musicians.

“When you’re an art teacher of any sort–performing arts, visual arts–your teaching is a creative outlet, but it’s not a very personally focused outlet because you’re really most concerned about the experience, the wellbeing, and the growth of your students,” Mr. Fiori said. “It’s a beautiful thing, that’s why I’m a teacher. I love that process. But I think over time, if you don’t find creative outlets and ways to produce your own work, you can feel a little closed off to your creative process and boxed in.”

The sabbatical created the runway required to make that personal work a priority, and while the album is the culmination of his creative journey as a composer and musician, it also provided Mr. Fiori with opportunities to teach and connect with his students in new ways. Whether it was playing some of the tracks for members of the jazz ensemble, or sharing his writing process with Music Composition students, Mr. Fiori was able to use his experiences and creative process for making the album as a reference point for students to learn and build from.  

“One of the best things I can do for my students is provide an example of someone who is making the thing that I’m teaching them,” Mr. Fiori said, noting how the students appreciate when he shares his work and process with them. “I try to do it in small doses, but I do think it’s nice for them to know that I'm excited to tell them about what I'm doing.”

Undertow is the culmination of that artistic passion, and marks another avenue for Mr. Fiori to cultivate to similar creative curiosity and dedication in the next generation of Belmont Hill musicians. 
 

By Mason Iandiorio '26

Even in the summer, Head of Strength and Conditioning Andrew Markham keeps the Cross Family Fitness Center packed with student-athletes, underscoring the Belmont Hill strength and conditioning program’s commitment to the boys. Week in, week out, all year long, Coach Markham’s program remains available for students to work out together, a true testament to the commitment and culture of Belmont Hill Athletics.

“In here, everyone pushes each other every single day. I know I’m loud, but I’m not the strength coach that’s in your ear yelling, ‘Get the weight up!’ I never have to say that,” Coach Markham said. “I push by trying to have the kids understand the whys of the exercise, I try to make sure the kids feel safe in the room, and ultimately the rest takes care of itself.” 

See the video below to learn more about strength and conditioning at Belmont Hill:
 

 

This spring, Belmont Hill senior Fitz Courtney ‘26 found himself submerged in the Sheepscot River in Boothbay, Maine, much to his classmates' amusement. “We were kind of all joking around that someone on this trip was going to fall in, and everyone thought it would be me,” explained his classmate Cam Kelley ‘26. “It was pretty funny to see that Fitz had fallen in the water.”

 

“He claims that Leopold pushed him,” added Cam’s classmate and future St. Lawrence University Baseball teammate Jack O’Brien ‘26. “I was behind him, and all of a sudden I just saw him tip, and the boat was filled with water."

The incident was part of the Maine Coast Senior Inquiry Class’s annual trip to Boothbay, where students row in the canoes they spent the semester building by hand.

The class is available to seniors in the second semester and has been taught by woodworking teacher and Athletic Director George Tahan for the past ten years. “Chris Zamore, who was in the English department, started it, and it's a combination of an English class and an arts class,” said Mr. Tahan. The class involves reading works by Maine authors, primarily short stories about the coast of Maine and the history of birch bark canoes, which are what the students model their own canoes after. 

“The entire semester is building your own 14-foot skin-on-frame canoe. And the goal is to take the canoes and go up to the Sheepscot River and have a little exploration and camp out,” said Mr. Tahan. “I think the kids get a sense of fulfillment ultimately out of something they built with their own hands, that is consistent with what Native Americans did when they built birch bark canoes in that tradition, and then being able to use it to accomplish a trip and stretch themselves in a way that they probably don't when they're home.”

Reflecting on the class, it’s the boys' time with each other, joking, working with their hands, paddling, and building, that seems to stick with them most. “We had a really good class, just every day working with each other, and Mr. Tahan’s great,” says Jack. The boys, with varying levels of woodworking experience, are guided through a variety of techniques, including steam bending. Jack O'Brien, who had taken both Woodworking I and Woodworking II prior to Maine Coast, and Cam Kelley, who had taken no woodworking prior, were both able to complete beautiful canoes during the class. On the bow and stern of each boy's canoe, they are given the opportunity to laser engrave a design of their choice. Students engrave nicknames, crests, quotes, and entire pictures onto their boats, leaving each boat with an imprint of each boy's personality. 

Over the years, Mr. Tahan has seen how the class leaves a consistently impactful impression on the boys.“It's a fun class, and I know the experience on the trip has always been a good one that kids have come back and said thank you for that opportunity that they might not otherwise ever have done.” The boys clearly agreed with their teacher and shared his enthusiasm when asked about the class. 

The class is open to all seniors, regardless of their previous woodworking coursework, and the shared experiences in the woodshop and on the river provide a fantastic opportunity for the group to bond in their final months on campus.  As Cam explains, “The lasting impact this trip is going to have on me is that when you can get a group of guys together, getting away from mainstream stuff, you can have a lot of fun, no matter what the group is. I wouldn't say everyone in the group were best buddies when we were here, but the camaraderie that we had on that trip had an impact on me, that no matter who it is or what the situation is, we're gonna find a way to have fun, have a good time. That kind of just sums up what Belmont Hill is and why I love this place so much.”

As he prepared for retirement after a remarkable 40 years of teaching and coaching on the Hill, John McAlpin decided to leave one final gift for the departing senior class: a song commemorating the indelible bond shared by graduates of Belmont Hill. 

“For years I have heard the phrase ‘band of brothers’ used to describe the boys who endure hardships and celebrate joys together as they traverse through the School,” Mr. McAlpin said. “I have tried to honor and capture the uniqueness and strength of that bond in song.”

While Mr. McAlpin is best known as a stalwart figure in the science department and on the middle school baseball diamond, his deep love for music has been a constant presence in all that he does. This love transformed into an artistic outlet as Mr. McAlpin began to hone and share his skills as a songwriter. Writing “Band of Brothers” provided him an opportunity to reflect on his time at the School, and he hopes the song inspires the graduating class to do the same. 

“I hope the song generates an emotional mix of nostalgia and pride for their accomplishments and the camaraderie they have shared. I hope it reminds them of their own personal growth and how important the shared experiences and friendships have been in shaping them,” Mr. McAlpin shared. “As they leave, I also hope this song helps to tether them to the School in a meaningful way, such that they realize they can always return and know they still belong.”

The song lyrics, along with a recorded performance by Jim Wooster, can be found below:

Band of Brothers
Lyrics by John McAlpin 

We band of brothers
We happy few
Came together to this Hill 
And were remade anew
Discovered in ourselves
What is just, what is true
We band of brothers
We happy few
 
We struggled alongside each other
In the classroom, on the fields
Tested by each challenge 
The doubt and sacrifice it yields
But with a sense of purpose
And the gift of camaraderie 
We became a band of brothers
For all the world to see
 
How do you measure triumph
What survives the test of time
Will it be the memories of
The mountains that we climbed
Or will it be the friendships forged
In the love between me and you
We band of brothers
We happy few
 
We band of brothers
We happy few
Came together to this Hill 
And were remade anew
Discovered in ourselves
What is just, what is true
We band of brothers
We happy few
 
United to become something
Greater than ourselves
Standing shoulder to shoulder
Our brotherhood compels
One for all, all for one
Know I’ll be there for you
We band of brothers
We happy few
 
Now our time together
Ends today and we part
But we will remember
Where we got our start
Love and shared memories
Until our days are through.                  
We band of brothers
We happy few
 
We band of brothers
We happy few
Came together to this Hill 
And were remade anew
Discovered in ourselves
What is just, what is true
We band of brothers
We happy few
 
We band of brothers 
We happy few
 
We band of brothers
We happy few

 

As members of the Class of 2026 finished their careers at Belmont Hill, the final months of the school year featured a host of traditions and events to send them off on a high note. From panel carving to the senior talent show to field day and more, the sixth formers took full advantage of all that senior spring had to offer.
 

A photo gallery capturing many of these events can be found below: