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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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Fainting in the desert

Fullness of the Spirit As the Living Water

English248
1
Fainting in the desert,
Israel’s thousands stand
At the rock of Kadesh.
Hark! the Lord’s command,
Speak to the Rock,
Bid the waters flow,
Strike not its bosom
Opened long ago.
Speak to the Rock,
Till the waters flow.
 
Speak to the Rock,
Bid the waters flow,
Doubt not the Spirit,
Given long ago;
Take what He waiteth,
Freely to bestow,
Drink till its fullness
All Thy being know.
2
Blessed Rock of Ages,
Thou art open still;
Thy blest Holy Spirit
All our being fill;
Still Thou dost say,
Wherefore struggle so?
Call for the Spirit,
Whisper soft and low,
Speak to the Rock
Bid the waters flow.
3
Oh, for trust more simple,
Fully to believe;
Oh, for hearts more childlike,
Freely to receive;
E’en as a babe,
On its mother’s breast,
So on Thy bosom
Let my spirit rest,
Filled with Thy life,
With Thy blessing blest.

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Bill L Parker

Simpsonville, South Carolina, United States

Apr 19, 2026

If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.

Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life (John 4:10, 14).

This water is already installed within us - we only need to ask Him to bubble up from our spirit into our soul and fill us with His life! He's so available!

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Un Hermano

Sep 3, 2025

SPEAKING TO THE ROCK

TO DRINK THE LIVING WATER

Numbers 20:1-13 tells us that after a certain time, the children of Israel came back again to Massah and Meribah. This third occasion of the children of Israel’s drinking is a repetition of the second one. Massah means “test, ” and Meribah means “strife” or “contention. ” It was at Massah and Meribah that the children of Israel tested and strove with the Lord. By that time the children of Israel were circling in their travels. They were wandering in the wilderness and came back again to the same spot. If they had not wandered but had gone on, they would never have had a repetition of their experience at Massah. Because they were wandering and would not go on, they came back again to the place of tempting the Lord and striving with the Lord. If a local church would not go on but would wander, sooner or later that church will have a repetition of this poor experience.

The truth is that Christ was struck and cleft on the cross once for all. There is no need for Him to be struck again. We need to realize the accomplished fact that Christ was struck on the cross two thousand years ago. Instead of striking Him again, we just need to speak to Him. When we speak to Him, He will give us the living water. Hymns, #248 is very good in this point:

The more you sing this hymn, the more you will fall in love with it. Christ has already been crucified and riven for us. We do not need to strike Him, but we need to call on Him, to speak to Him, to bid Him to give us the living water.

The Crucial Revelation
of Life in the Scriptures
Chapter 4 Section 2 (LSM)
CWWL, 1969, vol. 2

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Agodman In Christ

London, United Kingdom

Apr 23, 2025

Lord Jesus, we are thirsty: give us to drink! We identify ourselves with Christ in His death and apply the death of Christ to ourselves and our situation. Amen, we have been crucified with Christ. Lord, give us to drink! Give us the Spirit of life as our living water! We exercise our spirit to speak to the spiritual rock, Christ, to give us to drink! Thank You for being smitten on the cross for us to flow out living water.

I was enjoying this hymn as we were reading and enjoying the HWMR on 2024 December semi-annual training, week 16, day 3. Oh Lord! May we not prolongue any dry spells but come to You to drink!

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Br Jeff Hall

Church In Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Jun 15, 2024

Let Him In! He stands at the door knocking, there is only one doorknob and its on YOUR side....

Receive the life giving Spirit into yours by calling, calling, calling, He answers the call by mingling, You will experience Oneness with Divinity and Joy without measure!

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Jl

CA, United States

Mar 21, 2022

I found the best way to speak to the Rock is to call, O Lord Jesus! Jesus is the name, while the Spirit is the person of that name. When I call "Lord Jesus," I get the Spirit. Because He is a real and living person, even when I whisper soft and low, He comes as the Spirit all my being to fill.

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Lauren Bennett

Houston, Texas, United States

May 18, 2020

Oh, for trust more simple!

Fully to believe!

Wow, what a sweet hymn. We praise you Lord as the flowing Rock!

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Frank Kennedy

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States

Jul 5, 2019

May we become as little children in recieving the infilling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit by simply speaking to the "rock".

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Joshua Penner

Anaheim, California, United States

Jul 3, 2019

May the fullness of the Spirit flow unhindered! Lord, may Your recovery know the fullness of the living waters!

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Joanna Smathers

Baton Rouge, LA, United States

Apr 4, 2015

Speak to the rock till the waters flow.

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AW

Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

Mar 16, 2015

Praise the Lord that He was smitten on the cross, and out flowed blood and water, blood for our redemption, and water to impart His divine life into us. Now we can experience this life giving flow, not by struggling, but as the hymn says

"Call for the Spirit, whisper soft and low, speak to the Rock, bid the waters flow"

He is the Rock. Amen.

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