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Originally Posted by davem
A live performance can be changed by one of the participants. Think Jazz. The Music was the 'composition', the creation/manifestation of Arda is the performance of that composition. Not all the performers may have been around when the piece was composed, but as long as they are around when it is being played they can alter it - especially if they have the express permission of the composer/conductor to do that very thing.
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A very apt analogy,
davem! As a musician, I know there are a number of ways a performer can make a composition his very own, unique piece: by the
interpretation, even within the given boundaries of tempo, volume, accents etc. given by the composer, as those elements are normally variables, rarely absolutes, thus subject to individual differences; by
addition, putting in grace notes, double octaves, additional chord notes, etc., which do not change the character of the basic music but do add richness and interest; and by
improvisation - both 'classical' composers and modern ones, such as in jazz, as
davem has mentioned, specifically allow and/or require a performer to change the melody, even making up his own, in parts of a previously written composition. There is also the possibility of making a secondary composition of a previous piece of music, which would be an
arrangement or
variations, which would again be subject to varying interpretations.
Enough music theory, although I think it's appropriate and helpful to apply these principles to Tolkien's idea of the music of creation. Perhaps we could see various peoples of Middle-earth as performers of various styles. The Elves would be the musicians who attempt to find out what the original instrumentation was, to play on authentic historical instruments, using the precise tempo as far as can be determined. Men would be the improvisers and arrangers, having heard the original melodies but adding and changing them in a way to suit themselves - and the taste of their times, perhaps, as modern musicians might do.
Where would that put Saruman then? Was he trying to rearrange the music to fit his own taste and desires? Did he perhaps think that he could change it all the way through to the very end? (Sauron would have thought similarly.) And yet he managed only a brief stanza, that peters out and gives way to the main theme again after all.
I don't know why I haven't thought of applying the principles of music theory to this topic before - it's a logical application! There's food for thought here, and I may come back with more later.