The score for MU, written by Emmy-award winning composer Mark Izu, lifts off from his handwritten graphic notation, a melding of his love of jazz and ancient Japanese music, and the live improvisation of musicians who have worked together for years.

These include Izu playing the sho, an ancient Japanese court instrument which has 17 pipes and 15 reeds, and requires strong lungs to produce its haunting, atonal notes. The score also calls for three types of Japanese drum, a 13- and a 17-string koto, the shakuhachi bamboo flute and four Western instruments: the double bass, trap drums, saxophone and flute. Percussive sounds emit from a thumb piano, a beaded gourd, a Chinese opera gong filled with ball bearings and handcrafted drum mallets which, when rubbed on drums and koto strings, create a sad cry that strikes Izu as the sound of a whale crying.