Eagle 53

Eagle 53 is a 12-tone tempered scale invented by John O'Sullivan.

Conception

O'Sullivan designed Eagle 53 to meet the following criteria:

1. Every note between 1/1 and 2/1, when paired with both 1/1 and 2/1 must make a high strength or medium strength melodic interval. ("Strength" according to the metric described in Eagle 53 Article (2017)).
2. The tuning must not have more than 12 notes per octave, so as to fit comfortably on small stringed instruments like ukeleles.
3. There must be at least one good chord on each of the twelve notes. ("Good" according to the metric described in Eagle 53 Article (2017)).
4. These good chords must be playable on a fretted instrument such as a guitar.

The overall aim was to improve upon and replace 12edo, by making 12edo's consonances even more in-tune, at least in the most important keys, while also making available new exotic consonances and melodies which 12edo lacks.

Though it used a completely different methodology than a well temperament, the philosophy behind Eagle 53 was similar to one. It is not a well temperament, but it achieves many similar aims to one.

Relationship to other scales

Eagle 53 is a subset of 53edo.

Eagle 53's just version is identical to that of Euler's Genus Diatonico-chromaticum and Ellis' Duodene, except that those used 45/32 instead of 7/5.

This similarity is by coincidence and may simply speak to the fact that this is a useful and relatively simple scale that theorists are likely to land upon over and over, much like 2L 3s or like 53edo itself.

Scala file

! eagle53.scl
!
 Eagle 53, John O'Sullivan, key of E
 12
!
 113.208
 203.774
 316.981
 384.906
 498.113
 588.679
 701.887
 815.094
 883.019
 1018.868
 1086.792
 1200.000

Detempering (Eagle JI)

! eagleJI.scl
!
 Eagle 53 detempering, John O'Sullivan, key of E
 12
!
 16/15
 9/8
 6/5
 5/4
 4/3
 7/5
 3/2
 8/5
 5/3
 9/5
 15/8
 2/1

Subsets: User:BudjarnLambeth/Eagle JI subsets

Music

Eagle 53

By John O'Sullivan

O'Sullivan recommends readers to listen to his own compositions in Eagle 53 tuning, as he accurately follows the rules that he laid out for how to write with the tuning, meaning his works most closely reflect how the tuning is designed to sound.

The following is O'Sullivan's playlist of 34 musical examples using the Eagle 53 tuning, including covers of some popular 12edo songs, uploaded to his YouTube channel "@johnsmusic7". It is highly recommended for examples of 'what Eagle 53 sounds like':

• Songs in Eagle 53 tuning -

By other composers

Works by other composers may deviate from the rules of the tuning, so they are not recommended for getting an idea of 'how Eagle 53 sounds', however they are still valuable pieces of music worth a listen in their own right:

2020s

• Flowing Along - Herman Miller (2024)

2010s

• Taking Flight - Xotla (2019)

Modern reconstruction

• Uccellini - Aria Sopra La Bergamasca, arranged for Oboe, Recorder, Bassoon, tuned into Eagle 53 - rendered by Claudi Meneghin (2024)
• Bach - Prelude BWV 999, arranged for Organ, transposed into Em, tuned into EAGLE 53 - rendered by Claudi Meneghin (2024)

Eagle JI

Modern reconstruction

• Frédéric Chopin - Prelude Op. 28, No. 4 in E minor « Suffocation » (1839), arranged for organ, tuned into Eagle Just Intonation – rendered by Claudi Meneghin (2025)

Further reading

• Eagle Tuning Facebook group
• johnsmusic7.com: O'Sullivan's website. Contains further material on Eagle 53 among other topics.
  • Articles
    • Eagle 53 Article - John O'Sullivan (2017): A short article describing how he worked out Eagle 53 tuning.
    • John’s Rules - John O'Sullivan: A short and free book about O'Sullivan's recommended rules for musical composition (esp. in Eagle 53).
  • Web apps
    • Heart app: Eagle 53 app where the root notes of seven strong and near just chords correspond to 3:4:5:6:7:8:9.
    • 10 strong chords app: Eagle 53 app with ten strong chords.