The Treason of Isengard: Eru's Plan?

[burrahobbit]

why else would Tolkien mention Men's freedom to alter the Music if it never happened?

I'm pretty sure he didn't actually ever do that.

Given the statements I quoted, what makes you think they didn't alter the Music?

Because they don't have anything to do with that? There is some amount of difference between living beyond somthing and changing it to suit your needs. How exactly does a person go about changing a performance that he wasn't at? Even if he was at it, how exactly would he change the performances of all of the other people playing for themselves? The first question is more important, think about it more.