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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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Eat the bread, ye people of the Lord

Praise of the Lord Remembrance of Him

English1108
1
Eat the bread, ye people of the Lord:
Praise His name, for He has made us one.
Now we come to eat in one accord
As the church which He has made His own.
 
Eat the bread and drink the wine, ye saints!
We are one in Him fore’er.
Stand in oneness on the local ground,
Eat and drink in oneness there!
2
Drink the wine, ye people of the Lord:
We’re the church His precious blood has bought.
We’re redeemed to be in one accord—
This the goal for which He long has sought.
 
Eat the bread and drink the wine, ye saints!
We are one in Him fore’er.
Stand in oneness on the local ground,
Eat and drink in oneness there!
3
Stand as one, ye people of the Lord:
Not as individual grains are we—
We are one, we’re blent in one accord
As a loaf in each locality.
 
Eat the bread and drink the wine, ye saints!
We are one in Him fore’er.
Stand in oneness on the local ground,
Eat and drink in oneness there!
4
We are one as people of the Lord;
We declare that we are really one!
Not just word, but life in one accord
Testify what God in us hath done.
 
Eat the bread and drink the wine, ye saints!
We are one in Him fore’er.
Stand in oneness on the local ground,
Eat and drink in oneness there!
5
Eat the bread, ye people of the Lord:
Praise His name, for He has made us one.
Now we come to eat in one accord
As the church which He has made His own.

(Do not repeat chorus after last verse)

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Laurie Kae Bancroft

Farmington, MI, United States

Jul 26, 2026

This song has been going through my thoughts for days, I finally remembered the first line. I like this song because it speaks of Gods purpose/economy. I love being side by side with the Lord, yet this songs reminds all I have is for the corporate expression. Eating, drinking and breathing Him in.... hallelujah saints.

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Vanessa C

Tampa, Fl, United States

Jul 5, 2026

❤️ Eat the bread and drink the wine, ye saints!
We are one in Him fore’er.
Stand in oneness on the local ground,
Eat and drink in oneness there! ❤️

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Mar 28, 2026

Praise the Lord! The bread on the Lord’s Table signifies both the body of Christ broken for us to eat and the Lord’s mystical Body constituted with us, the many members of the Body regenerated through the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3). Hallelujah! We are one in Him forever😀

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Un Hermano

Aug 25, 2025

THE DECLARATION OF THE BREAKING OF BREAD

1. “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you declare the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26).

The word declare means “display” in the original Greek. The apostle says that every time we eat the bread and drink the cup, we display the Lord’s death. This means that we display His death for all to see. The bread symbolizes His body, and the cup symbolizes His blood. The cup placed beside the bread indicates that the Lord’s blood is outside of His body because it flowed out of His body and has been separated from His body. A person dies when his blood is separated from his body. Therefore, when we break bread and place the cup beside the bread, it displays the Lord’s death by spreading out His death before the universe for God, the angels, Satan, the demons, and all creation, including us, to see. (This is the reason that the bread and cup should not be covered by a cloth. ) Every time we see the bread and cup, we see a display of the Lord’s death. Although we break the bread in remembrance of the Lord, we also display His death. During the bread-breaking meeting our hearts remember the Lord, our spirits enjoy the Lord, and our eyes should look upon His death.

The Lord’s death is the center of His work of redemption. The Lord’s redemptive work was accomplished through and is based upon His death. His death solves the problem of sin, satisfies the requirements of the law, and quells God’s righteous wrath, causing us to be reconciled and acceptable to God. The Lord’s death resolves the problems of the old man, the flesh, and the old creation, delivering us from sin, the law, and all the bondage and slavery of the old creation. His death also solves the problem of the devil, Satan, and the world, causing us to boast in triumph over them. The Lord’s death is all-inclusive. Everything that is opposed to God, incompatible with God, apart from God, or not of God, including sin, the flesh, Satan, the world, and the old creation, was terminated in this death. When we break bread by placing the bread and cup separately on the table, we display to the universe the all-inclusive death of the Lord, which solved all the problems between us and God. As we display the Lord’s death, we also display everything that the Lord accomplished through His death to God, to the created things in the universe, and to ourselves.

Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures,
Volume 2 CWWL, 1932–1949, vol. 3
Chapter 20 (LSM)

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Fernando Barrios

Houston, United States

Apr 3, 2025

Praise the LORD all ye saints, all though we are many grains, we are one loaf, we eat in one accord, not as individual grains, we testify what God has done in us.

Come, let us eat the bread, let us stand in one accord, let us testify that God has made us one!

Oh, LORD Jesus we love you!

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Connor C

Houston, Texas, United States

May 5, 2024

Amen! Ye eat the bread!

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Matthew Stoebe

Shoreline, WA, United States

Mar 17, 2024

Eat the bread! Drink the wine! Why not just say “you people of the Lord! ” Ye is crazy, but I am a crazy lover of Jesus! So ye people of the Lord!! Praise the Lord!

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Jim Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Nov 22, 2023

The bread and wine at the table meeting are symbols. The reality is Christ the true bread of life. The bread symbolizes Christ the Spirit. Now we eat Him by believing and receiving in His word. Eating Christ, doesn’t that sounds heretical. The pharisees could not take it. You must believe!

Oh if I could just continue to take you in as the bread of life. I don’t want to be so complicated. I just take your word at face value and believe it which is to receive it. The Lord said “take eat this is my body”. By this we have Christ as our very life! It is by this faith we are made one. We must care for this oneness above all else. The Apostle Peter calls it like precious faith. It is.

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Moses Gao

Seattle, WA, United States

Aug 27, 2023

We are one!

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Jlin

McKinney, TX, United States

Jul 16, 2023

YE people of the Lord!

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