Last performance for conductor is bittersweet event

The conductor taught at Harding, YSU, Hiram College and Ironton schools.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- After 22 years in the W.D. Packard Concert Band conductor's chair, Robert E. Fleming says he'll miss the musicians when he walks off the podium after his last concert tonight.
But while that baton is in his hand, it's all about the music.
"I'll probably just be thinking that I want them to play well," said Fleming, 72, a native of Ashland, Ky. "I try not to let anything personal get involved."
He admits, however, that when he received a glass plaque from the Packard Board of Trustees at the July 4 concert commemorating his service, he got momentarily choked up.
Fleming joined the band as a trumpet player upon coming to the city in 1958, and became conductor in 1982. He previously worked as Warren G. Harding's band director from 1958-68, at Youngstown State University from 1968-84 and at Hiram College from 1984-93.
"After 54 years, I just felt it was time," Fleming said of his decision.
He still plans to guest-conduct the band, fill in on trumpet if no one else can be found and appear as an adjudicator throughout the United States and Canada.
"I feel we have a lot of great young people in the band and in the area and they deserve the chance to conduct as well," Fleming said.
Tough act to follow
Two of the band's original members, L. Bud Mould and Adone "Cal" Calderone, say Fleming leaves big shoes to fill.
"He won't be easy to replace," said Calderone, who is also the band's executive director.
The executive board, of which Calderone is a member, will take its time in naming Fleming's successor, relying on guest conductors in the meantime.
"I could always depend on that stick," Mould, the band's principal oboe player, said of Fleming's conducting. "There was never any doubt as to what to do."
Mould, of Boardman, also taught at YSU during the same time as Fleming.
"His rhythm is impeccable, and his tempo is immaculate," Mould said.
Calderone, of Niles, a tuba player, points to Fleming's preparation as what sets him apart.
"He really knows the literature," Calderone said. "He studies it and listens to the tapes and he's always done that."
Both men also count Fleming as a friend.
"I could call him up for anything and he'll do it," Calderone said. "He'll do anything for anybody."
Mould added: "I'm happy to have been associated with him as a friend and to have had him as a conductor. He's been a help to me musically. We learned from each other."
Musical background
Fleming's interest in music started as a boy when his mother bought a piano for $25. He credits that with helping him become a conductor, saying piano trains the ear.
He played trumpet in school, but when his dad was laid off during the Great Depression, the family couldn't make the instrument's rental payments and the store took the horn back.
His first music teacher, John "Pop" Lewis, remembered him, though, and gave him a trumpet a couple of years later. Under Lewis' tutelage, Fleming was playing with the high school band while in junior high.
He also credits another teacher, Carl Reeves, for instilling discipline as a musician.
It was that discipline that helped Fleming become conductor of the 202nd Army Band Kentucky National Guard at 19.
James Thomas, the band director at Ironton, Ohio, schools where Fleming first taught, also taught Fleming a lot, he said.
Fleming played trumpet in nightclubs to pay his way through college.
Unusual setup
When he travels to conferences for American Bandmasters Association and other professional groups, Fleming said, people can't believe the way the Packard Band works.
When William D. Packard, co-founder of the Packard Motor Car Co., died, he made provisions in his will for a music hall and concert band to perform free concerts for the public. The band is sustained by the interest earned from the Packard trust established by the will.
"I think it's the best-kept secret in northeast Ohio," Fleming said, noting, though, that attendance at concerts has been growing.
Fleming said he has great respect for all of the band's musicians -- some of whom he had as students and some who were fellow music educators.
"I'll miss them more than they'll miss me," Fleming said. "Like I told the band, conductors come and go, but the musicians are still the same."