Can anyone speak to the Physics of the Ainulindale?

[burrahobbit]

I imagined the Music as the big bang

Naw, the Big Bang was more like when Eru said "It is!" ("Ea!")

So my question is still thus, how long did it take the Valar to make and shape after they entered into the now [appropriately named] material universe?

The whole time.

As I read it, Ea is sort of like a house. First you design the house, then you build it and you move in, but you aren't done with it there. Then you have to keep paying taxes on it, and you've got to pay the water bill, and the heating bill, and all of the other bills. But there is still more: what happens when the pipes freeze and burst in the winter? Well, you've got to fix the pipes. One day you might get tired of the color and opt against the original blue for pink. Then some other day you might decide that instead of a little pink house that you want a big one, so you remodel and add a couple rooms.

Do you get what I am trying to say?