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About Numbered Notation

All steps
  1. The numbers are the notes of a scale
  2. “1=C” tells you where to start
  3. Dots make a note higher or lower
  4. How long each note lasts
  5. 0 means rest
  6. Bar lines and the time signature
  7. Curves: ties and slurs
  8. The words sit under the numbers
  9. Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings
  10. Minor keys: “6=A”
  11. Put it together: a line of a hymn
  12. Check yourself
  13. Try it on a hymn

The numbers are the notes of a scale

Numbered notation (jianpu, 简谱) writes a melody as numbers instead of notes on a staff. You do not need to read music: take one small step at a time and press Play on any example to hear it while each number lights up. Sound only starts when you press Play.

Instead of notes on a staff, each note is a number from 1 to 7. They are the seven steps of the scale you already know: do re mi fa sol la ti. After 7 the scale starts again at 1.

The seven numbers with their names. Press Play and say each name as its number lights up.
Sing along: do re mi fa sol, and back down to do.

If you can sing do re mi, you can already sing every number from 1 to 7. Tap or click any number to hear just that note.

“1=C” tells you where to start

At the top left of the sheet you will see something like 1=C. It means the number 1 (do) is the note C, and every other number counts up from there. 1=G means do is G, so the whole tune sits a little higher. Nothing else changes: the same numbers make the same shape, only higher or lower.

1=C: do is C.
1=G: the same numbers, starting higher.

Not sure where C is? On a piano it is the white key just left of the two black keys. Or ignore the letter and start on any note that is comfortable for your voice: the tune only has to keep its shape. The − and + key buttons on a hymn page shift the key for you.

Dots make a note higher or lower

A dot above a number means one octave higher. A dot below means one octave lower. Two dots mean two octaves. No dot is the middle range, where most of a tune lives. The name stays the same; only the height changes.

The same number at three heights: dot below, no dot, dot above.
A tune that climbs: it starts on a low sol and ends on a high do.

How long each note lasts

Tap your foot at a steady pace: each tap is a beat. A plain number lasts one beat, so you sing a new number on every tap. Dashes, lines and dots change that.

A plain number is one beat

Four numbers, four beats: one number for each tap.

A dash holds the note longer

Each dash adds one beat. The 5 lasts two beats and the 3 lasts four.

A line underneath makes it shorter

One line is half a beat, so two underlined numbers share one beat. (Two lines are a quarter of a beat.)

A dot after makes it half as long again

A dot after a number adds half its length. The first 5 lasts a beat and a half, and the short 3 fills the rest of the second beat.

0 means rest

A 0 is silence for one beat. Keep counting and keep tapping, but do not sing. Dashes after a 0 make the silence longer, just as they hold a note longer.

Sing 1 3 5, stay quiet for one beat, then come back down. Rests light up too, so you can feel the pause.

Bar lines and the time signature

Tall lines cut the music into bars, each holding the same number of beats. The two small numbers at the start, like 4/4 or 3/4, say how many: 4/4 is four beats in every bar, 3/4 is three. The first beat of each bar is the strongest, so lean on it a little. A double line with a thick edge marks the end.

4/4: count 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4. The first beat of each bar sounds a little louder.
3/4: count 1 2 3, 1 2 3, the lilt of a waltz.

Curves: ties and slurs

A curve over numbers joins them. If it joins two of the same number, it is a tie: sing the note once and hold it for both. If it joins different numbers, it is a slur: sing them all on one syllable, gliding from one to the next.

A tie: the 5 is sung once and held across the bar line, six beats in all.
A slur: “Him” is sung on two notes, 3 then 2.

The words sit under the numbers

Each number gets one syllable, written right underneath it. A short dash after part of a word means the word carries on under the next number. If a number has nothing under it, it belongs to a curve or a dash: keep singing the syllable you are on.

Read left to right, one syllable for each number: Twin-kle, twin-kle, lit-tle star.

Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings

A bar line with two dots, :|, means go back and sing that part again, from the matching |: sign (or from the start if there is none). Sometimes the repeat has two endings. Sing ending 1. the first time; on the repeat, skip it and sing ending 2. instead.

Play it: you hear the 1. ending, the repeat, then the 2. ending. Watch the highlight jump back.

Minor keys: “6=A”

A song in a minor key, which usually sounds more serious or tender, is labeled like 6=A instead of 1=C. It means the number 6 (la) is the home note, here A. The numbers keep their usual names; the tune simply feels at home on 6 and often ends there. 6=A uses the same notes as 1=C.

It starts and ends on 6 (la), the home note. Listen to the darker colour.

Put it together: a line of a hymn

This is the first line of hymn 8, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow”, written in numbered notation. Try the slow tempo first, and sing the words as each number lights up.

1=G in 4/4. Three silent beats, then “Praise” on beat 4. The dots under 7, 6 and 5 mean those notes dip one octave lower.

Check yourself

Four quick questions, with no score and no pressure. Tap an answer to see right away why it is right or wrong. You can always try another answer.

Tap the number that is held the longest.

Tap the 5 that is one octave higher than the first 5.

What does a 0 mean?

Under 1=G, which note is the number 1?

Try it on a hymn

You opened this from a hymn that has a Numbered view, so you can try it right now.

  1. Look at the top left of the sheet: the key, such as 1=D, and the time signature, such as 3/4.
  2. Find the first number and sing it. Then follow the numbers from left to right with the words underneath, one syllable for each number. Press Play in the player to hear the recording while you follow.
  3. Letters above the numbers (C, G7) are chords for a guitarist or pianist. Ignore them while you learn the tune.
  4. To be guided, open the Learn tab and press Play. Under Display, set Learn notation to Numbered (or choose Numbered on the Lead Sheet tab first). For hymns that have numbered lines, each line of numbers scrolls into view in time with the recording while a bouncing ball follows the words; other hymns show the piano notation there. The Speed menu slows it down.

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We’re the river-crossers, Hebrews is our name

The Church The Overcomers

English1271
1
We’re the river-crossers, Hebrews is our name;
Crossed the Euphrates, idols all are slain.
Entered into Canaan, left the other side;
Seeking a city, which shall e’er abide.
We are the Hebrews, that’s our real name;
We’ve crossed the river, we are not the same.
Building God’s house that He may dwell on earth,
Building God’s house that He may dwell on earth.
2
We were bound in Egypt, building for the foe;
God of the Hebrews said, “Let My people go!”
We have crossed the Red Sea, reached the other side;
Pharaoh, his army, perished in the tide.
God of the Hebrews, speak again today;
God of the Hebrews, lead us all the way.
Save all Your people from this crooked age,
Save all Your people from this crooked age.
3
We’re released, and now we build the house of God;
His tabernacle is our true abode.
Forty years of oldness left in Jordan’s tide,
Fight we for Canaan on the kingdom side.
Salvation’s Captain sounds the trump of war;
City by city, take we more and more,
To gain His kingdom, enter into rest,
To gain His kingdom, enter into rest.
4
What was once God-given soon a form became;
Then John the Baptist did God’s word proclaim—
Make another crossing, God is going on;
Judaism’s over; listen to My Son!
Turn from the prophets, turn unto the Son;
He’s My Beloved, He and I are one;
His Word will save you to the uttermost,
His Word will save you to the uttermost.
5
Now we’re overcomers on the sea of glass;
This final crossing will forever last.
Sing the song of Moses, make the praise complete,
Look! All our enemies beneath our feet.
We’re overcomers, that’s our real name.
God has His city; Satan gets the shame.
God is our portion for eternity,
God is our portion for eternity.

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Antonia Berg

Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

Oct 14, 2023

we are all y river-crossers in this world... 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼💕💕💕💕💕💐💐💐💐💐

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Joseph

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Nov 1, 2020

Amen!!
Beautiful hymn.
Building God’s house that He may dwell on earth.
Save all Your people from this crooked age.
To gain His kingdom, enter into rest.
His Word will save you to the uttermost.
Yea, God is our portion for eternity.
Amen Lord Jesus Christ.

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Allen In Christ

San Marcos, Texas, United States

Jan 25, 2019

Judaism’s over; listen to My Son! Religion is over; listen to My Son!

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M. Leisure

United States

Nov 18, 2018

Praise the Lord! God is our portion for eternity!

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Zachary Brooks

Canada

Mar 12, 2016

Amen!!

God is our portion for eternity!!

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Jack Wilmore

Woodbridge, VA, United States

Jul 22, 2015

Steve Miller, In the song "Christ And The Burning Church" you complained that "Nothing old or religious binds" is not good.

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" There are many things that are old that are very good and do bind us. For example 1 John 2:7 & 2 John 1:6 say we need to keep the old commandment. "

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Now in this song you say "turn from tradition" is a better line. This inconsistency makes me wonder if you are just hunting for things in these songs to object to.

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Michele Haney

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, United States

Sep 3, 2014

Wow! So grateful for His presence. Love this authoritative song.

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Ed

Hong Kong

Dec 16, 2013

Whoever wrote this song KNOWS of the plan of God. It cannot be obtained by learning, only by divine revelation. By 'turning from the prophets', Jews are exhorted to turn from relying on their lineage from Abraham. This is the dispensation of grace, no longer under the dispensation of law, which has been found to be wanting in reconciling men to God.

The point of it all IS TO BECOME OVERCOMERS. Only overcomers are the Man-Child in revelation: Christians who are fully grown, fathers in Christ, and at the same time is childlike because only a child can enter into the kingdom.

The Man-Child represents the perfected overcoming church. The left behind church after the Man-Child has been raptured is the woman who were given two wings to flee into the wilderness: praise and prayers are her wings.

This remaining church is represented by the ten virgins who were friends of the Bride but not the Bride. Five were found to lack in grace and did not make it, the other five entered to partake in the wedding supper.

We do have to make a final crossing, hallelujah! The Spirit and the Bride say Come!

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Kevin Lee

Dipolog City, Philippines

Nov 22, 2013

Acts 3:22 says Moses said, "A Prophet will the Lord your God braise up unto you from your brothers, like me; Him shall you hear in whatever things He speaks to you.

According to the Matthew 17:8 (RcV) footnote 1 says: "Peter proposed to keep Moses and Elijah, i.e., the law and the prophets, with Christ, but God took Moses and Elijah away, leaving no one except Jesus Himself. The law and the prophets were shadows and prophecies, not the reality; the reality is Christ. Now that Christ, the reality, is here, the shadows and prophecies are no longer needed. No one except Jesus Himself should remain in the New Testament. Jesus is today's Moses; as such, He imparts the law of life into His believers. Jesus is also today's Elijah; as such, He speaks for God and speaks forth God within His believers. This is God's New Testament economy."

Of course we come to Christ not only through our human spirit to contact Him but as well as the Word. But coming to Word is only by means of exercising our spirit to touch Christ and found life. The writer of this hymn was not assuming or saying to separate Christ and the Word. He was mainly referring to the shadows and prophecies spoken by the prophets. If you have the shadows and prophecies of the law of the prophets without Christ even though they had foretold concerning Christ. It is meaningless, just a dead letter. I believe the writer of this hymn was to trying to say that the Pharisees and the scribes care only the written Word of the Old Testament spoken by the prophets, yet they did come to seek Him as life. So, they separate Christ and the Word. You cannot have reality spoke by the prophets of keeping the commandments of God without Christ Himself. "This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight. Hear Him!"

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Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Aug 25, 2013

We do not separate Christ from the Word. We do not turn away from God's Word to turn to Christ. We turn to Christ through the word, and we read the word with Christ and coming to Christ.

2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

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