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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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The Church of God—we are the church

The Church Her General Definition

New Songs243
1
The Church of God—we are the church,
So important to God’s great plan;
Organic, full of God’s rich life,
We’re born into the living church.
Essence, nature of God, not man,
The foundation is Christ, Himself.
The glorious church the glorious church
Is God expressed. Is God expressed.
2
We need to see the House of God,
The Assembly of called out ones,
God’s masterpiece and His Kingdom,
His counterpart; her purpose is
Satisfaction and rest in love.
It’s God’s desire that Christ may have
A bride, a wife, a bride, a wife
Eternally. Eternally.
3
The One New Man has Christ our Lord
As a Person, expressing God,
Subdues Satan for God’s purpose.
Body of Christ with Christ our Head,
Supplying us with His riches;
Many members, all functioning,
Yet all are one, yet all are one
With Christ as life. With Christ as life.
4
Hallelujah! The two aspects:
Universal and the local church.
The local ground preserves oneness;
Genuine oneness will be obtained.
One fellowship and one teaching
Throughout the earth, universal
Body expressed, body expressed
Locally. Locally.
5
Learn the lesson from church hist’ry
Of the failures we must avoid;
Degradation we fight against,
Recov’ring from divisive ground
To the oneness of the Body;
Returning to what God’s revealed.
Lord build in us, Lord build in us
The Kingdom life. The Kingdom life.
6
We believers have been renewed,
Must grow in life and be matured,
Perfected as overcomers
So that we as the builded church,
The corporate Bride, will consummate
All in the New Jerusalem—
Fulfilling God’s, fulfilling God’s
Eternal plan! Eternal plan!

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James Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Mar 10, 2025

I love the church. I have seen a little of the vision presented in this hymn.

God’s purpose has nothing to do with our works.

2 Timothy 1:9

…who saved us [that is God] and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Now in this age we are called. We are called to participate in His purpose, the church, which is His testimony. It will be consummated as the New Jerusalem where God will dwell and rule with the believers for eternity!

Now the church is a beacon on the earth to display God and His masterpiece the church.

John 17:21

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

I’ve seen something of God’s purpose. This mystery must be revealed to us by Christ. Now it is revealed through the Word by His holy Apostles and Prophets. This mystery is revealed spiritually, but must be lived out very practically.

It not just for our understanding but is intended to be lived out in our life. In my life through the Word, the ministers in the church, and my experience in our church life, I have seen a little of His church. This is a very concise and simplified explanation of what I have seen.

Man’s purpose is to glorify God the Father through his Son. That is done by our magnifying the Son in our lives. This happens over time as God writes in the fleshly (soft ness) tablets of our heart. This is transformation. We should change as a result of God’s work in us. This is the testimony of Christ’s working in our heart. The work of God in our heart produces love for God and the believers/neighbors. This only possible because of the blood of Christ and His grace He bestowed on us. In the gospel of John chapter 17, specifically in verse three, we see God’s desire for Christians and and for men in general. God is not just after spiritual men but is after a body that expresses His love and oneness here on the earth. It is a oneness that can be of God alone. By seeing this oneness in the church the world should see God and believe. By this oneness man may see there is a treasure in man. They should see that the one God, the triune God, has done something. He is making man holy, Godly. So the scripture says “Great is the mystery of Godliness” which is God manifested in the flesh. Now He is made known by the many members in oneness which express His fullness. It is sad that the church is so broken and divided that it keeps man from seeing His magnificent body, the church. Unfortunately I have gone through such divisions in my church. It is such a shame to God and so damaging, to the members. These divisions in God’s people are the biggest factor that keeps men from seeing the one body [the church]. The body of Christ should express God and glorify Him so men can see that there is something here on earth that He has done. The oneness of the body testifies who God is. It displays the fullness of Him through the many members. The church is God’s enlargement. The individual Christians together with their experiences express the vast dimensions of Christ! This shows much more of Christ than any single successful Christian could ever do. Selah!

Divisions are the biggest factor that contributed to the decline of the church in these days. They destroy the oneness. Who can believe there is a God when his people fight and even hate each other? Even though I have seen so much failure in the church I believe God is still working to build up a proper expression of His body. For the Word clearly says “I [that is Christ by His Spirit] will build my church”. I pray for this and give myself to the Christian’s around me. The Word says if two or more come together in MY NAME there shall I be also. It is wonderful to see what God is after, but we must realize it is only by the Spirit that God can work in our spirit to bring these things about. We were made to be together.

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