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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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Eternity! Eternity

Gospel Persuasion

English1047
1
Eternity! Eternity!
How will you spend Eternity?
This question comes to you and me!
How will you spend Eternity?
Tell me, what shall your answer be—
How will you spend Eternity?
2
Eternity! Eternity!
How will you spend Eternity?
Many are choosing Christ today,
Turning from all their sins away;
Christ shall their blessed portion be:
How will you spend Eternity?
3
Eternity! Eternity!
How will you spend Eternity?
Leaving the strait and narrow way,
Going the downward road today,
What shall the final ending be—
How will you spend Eternity?
4
Eternity! Eternity!
How will you spend Eternity?
Turn, and believe this very hour,
Trust in the Savior’s grace and power:
Then shall your joyous answer be,
Saved through a long Eternity!

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Toyin

Jun 13, 2019

Thank You Lord that You give us eternal life and we shall by no means perish forever and no one shall snatch us out of Your hand (Jn10:28). Such is Your priesthood that You are able to save us to the uttermost! (Heb7:25)

Yet we must not neglect so great a salvation but we must pursue to know You and the power of Your resurrection and the fellowship of Your sufferings to be conformed to Your death! (Phil3:10). Thus we will arrive at Your fullness, and stature at a full grown man - Christ! Amen!

Father of glory grant this to us we pray! Amen!

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Victor

Oct 20, 2018

This eternal salvation Gospel of once saved always is a poisonous doctrine it's a Gospel that promotes sin.

Romans 6:1 says"Shall we continue in sin and expect grace to abound? God forbid..

Romans 6:14- 15

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? By no means..

Titus 2:11-13

11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. 12 It instructs us to renounce unGodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and Godly lives in the present age, 13as we await the blessed hope

2 Timothy 2:19

Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are his. And, Let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity

Matthew 7:21-23 King James Version (KJV)

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Galatians 2:17-1817

But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

And lastly here what Paul himself the writer of the epistles which spoke about grace also said..

1 Corinthians 9:27 King James Version (KJV)

27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Luke 13:24 King James Version (KJV)

24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

So please never believe once saved always saved Gospel its a damning Gospel...

If I heard that kind of Gospel when I was a young believer, all I would will be to give my life to Christ as a form of an insurance policy and then continue in my sin since I am already eternally....

But thank God for the truth of the Gospel. Jesus even said to a person after healing him that he should sin no more..

It is written be ye holy for I am holy..

It is written to work out your salvation with fear and trembling and the list goes on and on...

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Daniel

Worcester, MA, United States

Jan 8, 2011

Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, vol. 1, chapter 14

1. “Eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:9).

We are saved once for all. Our salvation is not based upon our works or ourselves; instead, it is based upon the Lord and His work. We ourselves and our works can change and are not reliable, but the Lord and His work will not change and are eternally reliable. We cannot obtain the Lord’s salvation by our works, and we cannot lose the Lord’s salvation by our works. The Lord did not save us because of things that we have done, and He will not take away His salvation because of things that we will do. Since our salvation is apart from works, our works have absolutely no effect on our salvation. The Lord’s gift of salvation issues from the grace of His unchanging love and is based upon His eternal work of redemption which He accomplished on the cross. Therefore, it cannot be changed with respect to us because of our works. The Lord, His love, His grace, and His work are all eternal and unchanging. Therefore, the salvation He gives is also eternal and unchanging. Because His grace and His work have saved us, our salvation is once for all.

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Daniel

Worceste, MA, United States

Jan 8, 2011

Oh to knock on the door of your gospel friend's heat by singing this song! Can you imagine? What mercy the Triune God dispenses Himself into poor sinners to cause them to be saved for eternity! What tears would flow! The time is short! Let's speak to our fellow man and ask this question!

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