In one word---overwhelming! We spent nearly 6 hours there and only saw a fraction of the displays and presentations. Of course I loved the historical European and American instruments including a pink Mark VI tenor, but seeing the native instruments from all over the world and hearing recorded examples of the music played on them broadened my total concept of what music really is. My advice would be to plan to spend at least two days, four hours a day and absorb the detail in 3 or 4 areas that most interest you. We got tired after about 4 hours with a sense of "overload" and just skimmed through the remaining parts of the museum for the next 2 hours which I regret. You won't be sorry you made the effort.
The creator of the MIM is Robert Ulrich, former CEO of Target. Of the over 15,000 instruments and art pieces at the museum, only 6,800 are on display at any given time. The rest are in storage and they are rotated from time to time so it is ever changing.
