F Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 3

The sparest bell. Variation 3 has four notes only: F1, C3, A5, A6. The arch spans from F1 (near-black) to A6 (pale yellow-orange) with just one intermediate pitch before the peak — C3 in the bass register, then a leap to A5 and A6 in the upper midrange. No pitches fill the wide middle stretch between C3 and A5.

The leap is the étude's defining gesture: from C3 (dark red-orange) the line jumps more than two octaves to A5, then steps one more octave to A6 at the crest, then folds back. The gap between the two halves of the arch is enormous, and the étude inhabits it with silence rather than pitches.

Lent, mp, normal articulation, four beats. Highlights dominate at 51%, pulled upward by the two A's in the upper register. What Variation 3 explores is the arch reduced to its structural minimum: a bass, a single middle voice, and two pitches at the crest — the most essential bell shape possible.