When I was approached by Elliott Godinez to compose a piece based on the verses of "The Star" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) that folks don't usually sing, I was struck by how much cooler they were than the ones that folks do know. Elliott had requested the piece be for Glockenspiel and Electronics, which allowed me a ton of flexibility for sound and narrative. This was one of the few occasions where I didn’t find the sheer freedom intimidating. I have been fascinated by the Cosmos and the study of the Universe for most of my life, and naturally this led me to wanting to include some actual narrative about the beauty and magnitude of the Universe as part of the piece. I sought out quotes by two of my favorite astronomers: Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Over my composing career I have found that the ideas my subconscious gravitates to are the best for inspiring my works, and in this case it kept falling to Dr. Tyson's comments about star dust. Humanity's insignificance amongst the Cosmos has been written about by dozens of people--and spawned a genre in the form of Lovecraftian horror--but I loved how Dr. Tyson talked about it as something beautiful rather than terrifying. That, despite our insignificance, the majesty, energy, and power of the Universe is inside all of us. We are star dust.