Ready, set, march!

With the marching-band competition season underway for several high schools in the area, some are striving to innovate and bring fresh performance concepts to the field.

Kelly High School's Marching Hawks are no exception.

This year, Kelly's director of bands, Keith Kyle, is leading his band in a new format, with a different themed performance for each home football game.

Since the games will have their own individual changing themes this year, Kyle said it was only appropriate for the band to coordinate. The band's competition piece will remain consistent, but the halftime performances will have notable variations.

"We'll do simplified shows -- what we call 'park and bark.' A little bit of moving, a lot of playing. Â… It seems like our audience enjoys that more than seeing the same show each night," he said.

Cameron Tillotson stands in formation during a Cape Central Marching Tigers practice Sept. 17. (Glenn Landberg)

Solo senior drum major Allisyn Holiseild is taking the lead for the Marching Hawks this season. She said the best part about being the drum major is having the chance to be a leader and role model for her bandmates.

Kelly will march in the Sikeston Cotton Carnival Parade on Saturday and at the Jackson Band Festival on Tuesday. The band will stay busy through October.

The Cape Central High School Marching Tigers also have taken to the field with a new approach this year with the introduction of nautical-themed guard scrims -- opaque screens with painted images that will face the audience during each performance.

Central High School's director of bands, Josh LaMar, said the use of props by marching bands has died down in recent years and was more of a '90s trend, so he figured it would be fun and interesting for the band to bring the retro element to the field this year.

The leadership format for the Marching Tigers also changed this year, with only one drum major, senior Shane Wright, being selected rather than the typical two-person team.

Members of the Jackson High School Marching Chiefs rehearse Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

Wright said he enjoys the responsibility the position demands and the connection he has with more members of the band, rather than knowing only his fellow tenor saxophone players.

"I like how I actually get to talk to everyone now. Like, I get to know all the sections and everyone in the sections on a more personal level, because I usually just stuck to my section and then the alto saxophones because we usually play together. So now I get to know everyone more," Wright said.

The Tigers began practicing with a weeklong camp in June and then began meeting again two weeks before school started in August.

Although the band has daily after-school practices and a relatively demanding competition schedule, LaMar said the main goal is for the students to enjoy playing their instruments and work well as a unit.

"Our philosophy as a competitive band is not as intense as some schools. Â… We're competitive for Southeast Missouri, but we try to have some common sense about our program. We want the kids to actually have a good time, so we don't want to burn anybody out," LaMar said.

Jeffrey Bittle and Mitchell Humphrey push a drum out to a field where the Cape Central Marching Tigers practice Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 at Cape Central High School. (Glenn Landberg)

For the first time this year, Cape's marching band will go to a competition in Paragould, Arkansas, on Oct. 10, branching out from its standard Missouri and Illinois competition locations. The band already has been to competitions at Farmington, Missouri, where it placed sixth; Murphysboro, Illinois, where it placed second; and Arnold, Missouri, where it placed first overall. The competition season finale for the Tigers will be the Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, Marching Festival on Oct. 24.

Jackson High School's Marching Chiefs began their season with the school's first home football game on Aug. 26. The season will continue with a home football game tomorrow and with the Jackson Band Festival, which will include a parade and an evening performance at the high school on Tuesday. The marching season will conclude on Dec. 5 with the Jackson Christmas Parade.

Jackson's director of bands, Tom Broussard, said his marching band is different from most others in the area in that students are not required to practice in the afternoon once the school day ends. He said this is the main reason the band only enters two competitions during the competitive season.

"Most of our kids, if not all of our kids, are involved in other activities, and we feel that's a strength and not a weakness to our program Â… So there has to be some give and take with that," Broussard said.

Two senior drum majors, Tom Overmann and Mitch Graham, are at the helm of Jackson's band this year.

Tuba players with the Cape Central Marching Tigers walk out to practice Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 at Cape Central High School. (Glenn Landberg)

"We were both really nervous at first ... but with the help of people who had been drum majors in the past and band directors, Mitch and I have both really grown a lot, and I think we've had a really fun time doing it," Overmann said.

Graham said being in one of the lead positions has brought a feeling of pride and fulfillment.

"Being able to be seen as a leader is pretty awesome. I mean, a lot of the students are peers. They respect us, not because we're the best or anything, but because we've paid attention all these years being in band, and we've worked toward these goals that we've set, and we kind of know how each student is supposed to be," he said.

Expectations are high among these high-school bandleaders, and the sentiments given were similar across the board.

"I expect excellence," Kyle said.

A French horn is played during practice for the Cape Central Marching Tigers Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 at Cape Central High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Wright said he expects all members of the band to try their hardest and give the best performance possible.

"We're just trying to make what we do every day better," Broussard said.