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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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I come to His presence afresh

Experience of Christ Fellowship with Him

English554
1
I come to His presence afresh
Ere the night has passed into morning;
And His face I see as it shines on me—
The Lord within is dawning.
And He speaks to me and reveals to me
All His riches for me today;
And with sweet delight I partake of Him,
My hunger has passed away.
2
As Spirit He speaks thru the Word
Till my heart in echo is singing,
And the fount of life with His grace and pow’r
Within my soul is springing.
And He speaks to me and reveals to me
All His riches for me today;
And I drink of Him for my every need,
My thirsting has passed away.
3
In tenderness He deals with me,
While I stay with joy in His presence;
And He saturates and supplies my soul
With all His precious essence.
And He speaks to me and reveals to me
All His riches for me today;
And in every way I partake of Him,
My problems all passed away.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Un Hermano

Jan 28, 2026

19. The All-inclusive One with the Unsearchable Riches

—————————

To the believers Christ is the all-inclusive One with the unsearchable riches. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ. The riches of Christ are what Christ is to us. As God, He is the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the Lord, the Christ. As man He is the Apostle, the Shepherd, the Forerunner, the Captain of our salvation. There are countless aspects of the riches of Christ, for He is the reality of every positive thing in the universe. For example, Christ is the real gravity. Without Him, we would drift away. As the One with the true holding power, Christ upholds the entire universe (Heb. 1:3). Because all positive things signify Christ, when He was on earth He could use so many things as illustrations of Himself. Using a door as a picture of Himself, He could say, “I am the door” (John 10:9). He is also the real light, life, breath, water, food, clothing, and dwelling place.

The riches of Christ also include both human virtues and divine attributes. Christ is the real love, patience, and forgiveness. Apart from Christ we cannot love, be patient, or forgive. But when we have Christ, we have the uplifted human virtues and also certain of the divine attributes.

As believers, we need to know and experience the unsearchable riches of Christ, which are for the producing of the church as His expression. This takes place through the divine dispensing of Christ into the believers. The church is produced not by teaching nor by organizing but by the dispensing of Christ. The more Christ is dispensed into us, the more life we have, the stronger life we have, the richer life we have, and the more uplifted the church life becomes. The riches of Christ produce the church through our experience and enjoyment of Christ. On Christ’s side it is a matter of dispensing; on our side it is a matter of experience and enjoyment. When we experience and enjoy the Christ who is dispensed into us, we become part of the proper church life. By absorbing the riches of Christ we become the Body of Christ as His fullness to express Him. Therefore, the Body of Christ is constituted of the riches of Christ that have been enjoyed and assimilated by us.

The Conclusion of the New Testament: God, Christ, and the Spirit, Message 52 (LSM)

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Un Hermano

Jan 28, 2026

God’s life has been imparted into our life, His nature is being wrought into our nature, His mind is being wrought into our mind, and we even have His divine element, the element of the riches of His unsearchable life, to transform our entire being. Thus, we have God’s life, God’s nature, God’s mind, and the divine element of all His riches, and now we can participate in God’s divinity in full. For us to participate in God’s divinity means that He is making us Him. He is making us God in His life, in His nature, in His thinking, and in His expression but not, of course, in His Godhead.

The Secret of God's Organic Salvation—"the Spirit Himself with Our Spirit"

Chapter 3 (LSM)

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Catherine

United Kingdom

Dec 12, 2025

As Spirit He speaks thru the Word
Till my heart in echo is singing,
And the fount of life with His grace and pow’r
Within my soul is springing.
And He speaks to me and reveals to me
All His riches for me today;
And I drink of Him for my every need,
My thirsting has passed away.
Amen amen

Read more
Anna

Santa Cruz, CA, United States

Jan 24, 2025

Lord, I come to your presence afresh!
Shine your face on me!
Lord, speaks to me and reveals to me,
Supply me with all Your riches today!
Lord, You are the fountain of life with grace and power,
All my needs are satisfied!

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Jamell Maurice Demons

Gifford, Florida, United States

Nov 17, 2024

I need to come to his presence afresh.

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Maria L.

Fremont, California, United States

Jul 18, 2024

Praise the Lord!

Our whole life hinges on the Lord’s speaking. Any day without the Lord’s speaking is in vain.

Lord, we are open to You: speak to us today. Our life depends on Your speaking. We love to hear Your voice. We come to You again and again and we want to maintain our fellowship with You, always listening to You!

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Mike

San Antonio, TX, United States

May 21, 2024

This hymn blows “In the Garden” away.

Compare the two and see there’s no comparison. What clarity! What revelation! What experience! I’m so thankful for the brother who wrote this. What a blessing! “He saturates and supplies my soul with all His precious essence! ”

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LC

San Juan, NCR, Philippines

Dec 23, 2023

One thing that we always treasure is that the Lord still speaks to us personally and directly today. (ITERO October 2023, message 1)

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Norma McDonald

London, United Kingdom

Mar 26, 2023

I woke up this morning with the thought; "O No; another morning "

And the dear Lord brought this hymn to mind. Thank You Lord.
The words just spoke to me in a personal way.
Oh! What a comfort. Amen Lord.

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Lilo Xu

Auckland, New Zealand

Feb 10, 2022

Lord, do draw us morning by moring to come to Your presence afresh, so that You can speak to us and reveal to us, oh Lord, all the riches You have prepared for us. Lord, we don't want to miss You. Lord, we want to enjoy You moment by moment, to absorb all the riches of our Savior!!!

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