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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 Tempo menu slows it down without changing the pitch.

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Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty

Blessing of the Trinity His Worship

English6
1
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
Unto everlasting days our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy, Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
2
Holy, Holy, Holy! all the saints adore Thee;
Heaven’s elders cast their crowns down by the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim worship too before Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
3
Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,
Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

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Lynn Shoen

Laurel, MT, United States

Jul 18, 2026

The day will come when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that our God is Lord of all and Majesty on high...

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Inayat

Karachi, Punjub, Pakistan

Jul 23, 2025

I love God

HOLY HOLY HOLY

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Pwt

Burlington, MA, United States

Jun 28, 2025

“Revelation 3:7 And to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia write: These things says THE HOLY ONE, the true One, the One who has the key of David, the One who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens:”

“Exodus 28:36 And you shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet: HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH. ”

Everything about God is holy. He is holiness itself. His name is Holy, His life is holy, His nature is holy, and all His doings are holy.

Enjoy His Holiness. Drink of His Holiness. Be saturated with His holiness and holy nature.

“Holiness is God Himself in His pure divine nature, signified here by the pure gold. To be holy is a matter of having the divine nature wrought into our being to make us holy, as God is.

The engraving Holiness to Jehovah indicates that the entire priesthood is sanctified unto the Lord, separated to the Lord and saturated with the Lord.

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Un Hermano

Jun 27, 2025

There is one God in three persons for the purpose of dispensing and applying God to us. God the Father is the source of the heavenly electricity; God the Son is the current of the heavenly electricity; and God the Spirit is the application, the function, of the heavenly electricity. Thus, God Himself can be dispensed into us and applied so that the church may be produced and exist. For the producing and existence of the church, God must be in three persons. The dispensing of the Godhead is much more important than the teaching of the Trinity.

The Practical Expression
of the Church
Chapter 1 (LSM)
--------------------------------------------
GOD BEING LIFE TO US IN THE SON
AND THROUGH THE SPIRIT

Christ as the Son of God is life to us, but we need to ask what Christ has to do with God and with the Holy Spirit. Here we need to realize the fact of the Triune God. The God in whom we believe is a Triune God, the one God in three persons. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. ” This verse speaks of three persons, yet the three persons have only one name. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God with three persons.

Basic Principles of the
Experience of Life
Chapter 1 (LSM)

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Emmanuel

Abuja, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria

May 31, 2025

I Thank GOD for this great opportunity to have many hymns in one place

Thanks to the developer of this site God bless you

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Joseph Marapatla

Texas, United States

Nov 21, 2024

I’m so glad to have come across this site. Reading the comments just filled me with joy to know that so many people love God. I love God. He has helped me overcome my sinful ways. I want to spend all my time just sitting in his holy presence. He’s a great God and worthy to be praised!!

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Lynda

Ontario, Canada

Sep 19, 2024

This song has thrilled my soul for as long as I can remember. I start my quiet time often with this spirit filled hymn!

Thank you, Reginald Heber, a faithful servant of our Lord Jesus Christ! 🙏🏻

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Richard Chikwendu

PH, Rivers, Nigeria

May 3, 2024

Opens my daily early morning prayers. Very deep meanings!.

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James Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Apr 3, 2024

In the Jewish language to repeat a word is for emphasis. To repeat twice is like an explanation point. To repeat three times is like standing up and shouting. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty. There is none like you! You are perfect in power, in love, in purity!

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Lulu Huang

China

Mar 21, 2024

Yesterday I read the Revelation chapter four.

In verse 8, it says "And the four living creatures, ... they have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming."

And in verse 10-11, it says, "The tewenty-four elders... saying, You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for You have created all things, and because of You will they were, and ere created.

These verses remind me that our Lord God enjoys our praising! We shall praise Him like the four living creatures and the twenty- four elders everyday.

Praise the Lord.

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