Skip to content
hymnal.net
hymnal.net
My Songs

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.

Open this guide as its own page

Download limit reached

From every stormy wind that blows

Prayer Around the Mercy Seat

English774
1
From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes,
There is a calm, a sure retreat—
’Tis found beneath the mercy seat.
2
There is a place where Jesus sheds
The oil of gladness on our heads,
A place than all besides more sweet—
It is the blood-bought mercy seat.
3
There is a scene where spirits blend,
Where friend holds fellowship with friend;
Though sundered far, by faith they meet
Around one common mercy seat.
4
There, there on eagle’s wings we soar,
And time and sense seem all no more,
And heaven comes down our souls to greet,
And glory crowns the mercy seat.

Delete Comment

Delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Kola Adewumi

Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States

Mar 18, 2026

Some HYMNS just make you feel like part of the Church in Heaven -- or bring Heaven so close to your Heart!! ❤️!

This song written by Brother Hugh StowelI is one of them..

Sometimes in these our days-- we think of Heaven of Heavens --as a far of distant place -- millions of miles away.!! --

however ---not to the New Testament saints of old--- especially reading places like Hebrew 12: 18--24:

It appears Heaven to them is like a Hill Top up there (Psalm 121) A place where they go to fellowship regularly with the Lord!!

I think that is the kind of experiencial living reality --you get from this kind of song --written by Brother Hugh StowelI

I pray that Hebrew 12:18--24 shall be a living really experience--- also for us hear on Earth!! In Jesus Name

Love you God bless you.
Our Lord Reigns.
Jesus is Lord

Read more
Hazel

Liberia

Dec 6, 2024

Got up 5a. m. this morning with this song on my lips, haven'tsung it since Easter. And then tears started to flow. I believe the Holy Spirit was praying through me. Thank God for the Mercy Seat.

Read more
Tamara

Mount Vernon, KY, United States

Dec 6, 2023

Here is the 5th beautiful verse of this hymn...
Ah! whither should we flee for aid,
When tempted, desolate, dismayed?
Or how the hosts of sin defeat,
Had suffering saints no mercy seat?

Read more
Jan Harvey

Hamilton, New Zealand

Oct 12, 2023

The Lord has touched me with this hymn today and encouraged me.

Read more
Joyce Jones

Silver Spring, MD, United States

Feb 14, 2023

There is another verse to this song : unfortunately I do not remember all the lines …someone might probably know them:

“Oh whither shall I flee for aid

When helpless, desolate, afraid……

Read more
Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Aug 23, 2022

Thomas Hastings who composed the tune to “From every stormy wind that blows” wrote this hymn and it’s music:

Child of Sin and sorrow, filled with dismay,
Wait not for tomorrow, yield three today,
Heaven bids thee come, while yet there’s room,
Child of sin and sorrow, hear and obey.
(Brown and Butterworth)

Read more
Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Aug 23, 2022

This hymn of the Christian faith was written by Hugh Stowell close to two centuries ago. Ever since, it has been a consolation to many-a-believer passing through the trials and tribulations of this world.

It was sung by the eight American martyrs, Reverends Albert Johnson, John E. Freeman, David E. Campbell and their wives, and Mr. and Mrs. McMullen, when by order of the bloody Nana Sahib the captive missionaries were taken prisoners and put to death at Cawnpore in 1857. Two little children, Fanny and Willie Campbell suffered with their parents.

Stowell was a popular and effective preacher and a graceful writer. Forty seven hymns are credited to him, the above being the best known. To presume it is “his best, ” leaves a good margin of merit for the rest of his songs. “From every stormy wind that blows, ” has practically but one tune. It has been sung to Hastings “Retreat” ever since the music was made.

Read more
Ana Lara

United States

Nov 26, 2019

Hugh Stowell was born December 3, 1799, at Douglas on the Isle of Man. His father, also named Hugh was the Rector at Ballaugh near Ramsey, England.

Hugh Stowell Jr. received his education at St. Edmunds Hall, Oxford, where he earned his

B. A. in 1822 and M. A. in 1826. The details of his conversion are not known. He was ordained a minister to the Church of England and served at Shepscombe,

Gloucestershire, and later at Huddersfield and Salford. He published hymn books which included his own, some of which were children’s hymns. He went to be with the Lord “where glory crowns the mercy seat. ” October 8, 1865.

An interesting incident is recorded as to this hymn. In 1871 while the great Chicago fire raged on, it engulfed the First Baptist Church. Those inside said, ”Our house must go, but let us have one more prayer within its walls. ” Then rising from their knees they sang together as they left the building.

“From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes,
There is a calm, a sure retreat
‘Tis found beneath the mercy seat. ” (original stanza)

Read more
Anonymous

Aug 6, 2018

Very comforting today.

Read more
Dorcas

Jun 16, 2017

This met a need today.

Read more