- Hi, I'm Howie Alexander, the Artistic Director of the Afro-American Music Institute and this is my teachable moment.

Jazz is African music played on European instruments.

Many believe that jazz has its origins in New Orleans or Chicago.

But if it's African music, that means that jazz is actually thousands of years old.

You also may hear that jazz is about improvisation.

Improvisation means we make it up as we go.

Jazz musicians know exactly what they're playing, so it's not improvising.

It's composing on the fly.

Jazz is a language and you have to learn to speak it, read it, and write it.

If you want to learn how to play jazz, you have to listen to a lot of it and practice every day.

- [Child] iQ smartparent Teachable Moments are funded in part by The Grable Foundation.