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

Rock of Ages, cleft for me

Gospel Crying to the Lord

English1058
1
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save me from its guilt and power.
2
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All could never sin erase,
Thou must save, and save by grace.
3
Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace:
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
4
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Delete Comment

Delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Ekoma Benjamin

Benin City, Edo, Nigeria

Apr 18, 2020

Rock of ages, save me from its guilty and power in Jesus Christ name,

Read more
Ana Lara

United States

Apr 17, 2020

The tune written for Toplady’s hymn, “Rock of Ages, ” was written by a renowned American church musician Thomas Hastings in 1830. Hastings was the first musician of sacred music to dedicate his life to elevate the music of churches all around America. He wrote at one time, “The homage that we owe to the Almighty God calls for the noblest and most reverential tribute that music can render. ”

Thomas Hastings was born on October 15, 1784, in Washington, Connecticut. Though his formal musical training was small, and he suffered eye problems throughout his life because he was an albino, he wrote more than fifty volumes of church music including 1000 hymn tunes and more than 600 original hymn texts as well as editing more than fifty music collections. In 1858 the University of the City of New York awarded him with the degree of Doctor of Music in recognition for his achievements. Along with Lowell Mason, Thomas Hastings is credited with being one of the most influential musicians in shaping the development of church music in the United States.

The hymn “Rock of Ages, ” has been preserved for over 200 years and has been enjoyed by Calvinists and Armenians alike despite its original inspiration born out of controversy.

Read more
Ana Lara

United States

Apr 17, 2020

This hymn has been ranked as one of the most popular hymns ever written of the English language. It has been described as a “hymn that meets the spiritual needs of all sorts and conditions of men from the derelict snatched from the gutter by the Salvation Army to Prime Minister Gladstone at whose funeral it echoed through the dim spaces of Westminster Abbey. ”

Whereas most hymns have been written out of some personal need or experience, this hymn was born in a spirit of “passionate controversy. ” Augustus Toplady was sixteen years old when he was saved while visiting Ireland. Augustus writes of his conversion:

“Strange that I, who had so long sat under the means of grace in England, should be brought right with God in an obscure part of Ireland, midst a handful of people met together in a barn, and by the ministry of one who could hardly spell his own name. Surely it was the Lord’s doing and is marvelous. ”

At first Toplady associated himself with the Wesley brothers and the Methodists but later he strongly followed John Calvin and the doctrine of “election” which radically opposed Arminianism promoted by the Wesleys. They carried theological warfare through pamphlets, public debates and sermons.

Toplady-I believe him (John Wesley) to be the most rancorous hater of the gospel system that ever appeared on the Island.... Wesley is guilt of Satanic shamelessness... of uniting the sophistry of a Jesuit with the authority of a pope.

Wesley-I dare not speak the deep things of God in the spirit of a prize fighter or a stage player, and I do not fight with chimney sweeps.

In 1776 Toplady published this hymn text in “The Gospel Magazine” as a climax to an article attempting to prove his argument that even as England could never pay her national debt, so man through his efforts could never satisfy the eternal justice of a holy God. He entitled the hymn “A Living and Dying Prayer for the Holiest Believer in the World. ”

Some of the phrases in the hymn are satirical in nature against the teachings of the Wesleyan Arminian concepts:

Could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no languor know, these for sin could not atone- Thou must save and Thou alone.

Dr. Louis J. Benson, a noted hymnologist, in “The Studies of Familiar Hymns, ” calls attention to the fact that Toplady actually plagiarized his text from a hymn that Charles Wesley had written thirty years ago in a collection, “Hymns on the Lord’s Supper. ” A paragraph of the preface from this collection reads as follows:

O Rock of Israel, Rock of Salvation, Rock struck for me, let those two streams of Blood and Water which once gushed out of Thy side, bring down Pardon and Holiness into my soul. And let me thirst after them now, as if I stood upon the Mountain whence sprang this Water; and near the Cleft of that Rock, the Wounds of my Lord, whence gushed this Sacred Blood.

Augustus Toplady was born at Farnham, England, on November 4, 1740, the son of Major Richard Toplady, who died while serving his country at the time Augustus was still a baby. Later Augustus graduated from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and was ordained an Anglican minister in 1762. He also pastored the French Calvinist Chapel at Leicester Fields, London, where he became known as a powerful and zealous evangelical preacher. Although he was known as a controversial preacher for his opposition to the Armenian theology, Toplady was highly influential as a spiritual leader. Because of his delicate constitution and the strain that work had on his body, he died of tuberculosis at thirty-eight years of age. These are his final words before parting to be with the Lord:

My heart beats every day stronger and stronger for glory. Sickness is no affliction, pain no cause, death itself no dissolution.... my prayers are now all converted into praise.

Read more
Ayieko Fred

New Hope, MN, United States

Apr 15, 2020

Was born in Kenya, grew in a humbled family where people could ask can something good come from out of our roof ? Now I stand as a soldier in USA . indeed Lord is our hiding place . Very much convinced that Gods promises are true.

Read more
Dianga Mouline

Nairobi, Kenya

Apr 12, 2020

Wonderful song

Read more
Solomon Ojo

Abuja, FCT, Nigeria

Apr 10, 2020

I was led by the Spirit to sing this song tonight. And I have the assurances that it will speak for me.

Read more
Oluwaseun

Lagos, Nigeria

Apr 10, 2020

I woke up this morning and this hymn was ministered to my heart for morning worship by the holy spirit, considering the time of uncertainty surrounding the world birth by the ongoing pandemic. God please heal the world.

Read more
Roselyn Uche U.

Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria

Apr 9, 2020

The Holy Spirit inspired me to sing this song tonight. Such a powerful song for such a time as this when the world is in turmoil and confusion every where. Let the water and the blood of Jesus be a double cure!! Amen.

Read more
Feliceia

Van, BC, Canada

Apr 5, 2020

Let me hide myself in thee Amen thank you for saving us Lord that we can go to you for refuge.

Read more
Kayode Aganna

Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

Apr 3, 2020

As we spoke of this unique season of our lives and the dawning of a new day wherein dwelleth righteousness. Let us put our hope and trust in CHRIST and Christ alone.

Read more