These Six Studies (Study-Variations) Op. 56 were composed between 1968-69. The premier was performed in 1972 by Colin Kingsley in the Freemason's Hall in Edinburgh. It is one of several sets of variations which Leighton wrote for the piano. The variations are based on chord formations of four notes outlined in the opening bars. Each of the six movements explores some particular aspect of technique and texture and, whether in the stabbing insistence of the second and sixth movements, the bell-like intonations of the third or the capriciousness of the fourth, Leighton maintains an instinctive idiomatic ease throughout.