And the beat goes on ...

Cape Girardeau Central High School is welcoming Drum Corps International's energetic and theatrical on-field musical production Drums Along the Mississippi 7:30 p.m. today at Cape Girardeau Central High School's Tiger Stadium to benefit the school's band booster program.

The presentation will feature six bands from across the country, comprised of high school students -- including the Cape Girardeau Central High School band -- ranging from ages 14 to 23, according to Central High School band director and tour event partner, Josh LaMar.

Drum Corps International is a youth activity, similar to marching band, using only brass and percussion instruments, he explained.

"It started in approximately the 1950s with the VFW and they would teach kids how to play instruments and drums so they could get kids active in parades," LaMar said.

But now, it has become "a huge, Broadway show-style of performance on the field," he said.

Most states have a drum corps, and students from high-school marching bands will travel and audition during the winter, said LaMar, noting the groups begin tours at the end of school in the summertime.

All of the "smaller shows" lead the students involved to the championship in Indianapolis in August, he said.

Central's high-school band is going to perform the national anthem at the start of the show today, he said, along with presenting a selection from its season.

Today also marks the start of the school's summer band camp, LaMar said, and the students have already been working on the music.

"We had a one-week camp, back in June. We have been anticipating this," he said. "Hopefully we will pull it off and be ready to go [today] by about noon."

LaMar described the show as being theatrical, with "big movement" and "loud, fast and exciting."

"We're not the only ones that are going to have an event [tonight]," he said. "Some of the shows are really big and some are smaller, like ours."

LaMar said the bands are classified under two groups for the event: world-class drum corps and open-class drum corps.

"Ours is the open-class corps," he said. "I marched in a drum corp when I was a junior in high school, and it's so much better today than when I marched," he said.

LaMar said now, as band director, his goal is to make sure Tiger Stadium is used not "just for the football team or the soccer team."

He said the event would be something to bring "theatrics and pageantry of the marching arts to our area."

• 7:30 p.m. -- Welcome & National Anthem
• 7:45 p.m. -- River City Rhythm - Anoka, Minnesota
• 8:06 p.m. -- Southwind - Mobile, Alabama
• 8:27 p.m. -- Gold - San Diego, California
• 8:48 p.m. -- Intermission
• 9:08 p.m. -- Louisiana Stars - Lafayette, Louisiana
• 9:29 p.m. -- Vanguard Cadets - Santa Clara, California
• 9:50 p.m. -- Scores announced

Tickets ranging from $20 to $30 are available online at www.drumsalongthemississippi.com.