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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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Pure myrrh and cinnamon

Fullness of the Spirit As the Compound Spirit

English1116
1
Pure myrrh and cinnamon,
Calamus and cassia—
These are Thy elements,
Jesus my Lord!
In olive oil they’re blent
In wondrous measurement—
O what an ointment this,
Anointing us!
Four-in-one mingled,
Compounded Spirit,
Sweet with Christ’s suffering death,
Full of the fragrance
Of resurrection—
O what an ointment flows
In spirit, Lord!
2
Stacte and onycha,
Galbanum and frankincense—
These are Thy elements,
Jesus my Lord!
Stacte doth sons produce,
Onycha from sin doth loose,
Galbanum all death repels,
In spirit, Lord.
Equal proportion,
In resurrection;
Seasoned with salt are they.
Ground into powder fine,
Consumed with fire divine—
O what an incense this,
Jesus my Lord!
3
Ointment is Christ for us,
Exceeding glorious!
Incense is Christ for God,
Wholly for Him.
Ointment flows down to us,
Christ is our portion thus;
Incense ascends to God,
Fragrant to Him.
’Tis by th’ anointing
Christ we experience
And then the incense burn.
Christ in our prayer and praise—
O what a Christ we raise
From our experience,
Precious to God.

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Un Hermano

Sep 13, 2025

Four Kinds of Spices

The materials of the holy anointing oil are of two categories and are five in number. The first category includes the four spices: myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. The second category consists of one item—olive oil.

Flowing Myrrh

Flowing myrrh, smelling sweet but tasting bitter, signifies the precious death of Christ. In the Bible myrrh is used mostly for burial. Hence, myrrh is related to death. According to John 19 , when Nicodemus and others were preparing to bury the body of the Lord Jesus, they used myrrh.

Fragrant Cinnamon

Fragrant cinnamon signifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death. Cinnamon not only has a distinctive flavor, but it can also be used to stimulate the heart. Cinnamon may be prescribed to stimulate a weak heart.

Myrrh signifies the precious death of Christ, and cinnamon signifies the effectiveness of His death. If we apply the Lord’s death to our situation, it will reduce our pain, correct the wrong secretions, and eventually stimulate us and make us happy and joyful. I can testify of this from my experience. There are times that negative things in my environment would cause me to be low. But when I apply the Lord’s death, I am corrected, adjusted, stimulated, and stirred up.

Fragrant Calamus

The calamus in Exodus 30 is a reed. The Hebrew root of the word myrrh means flowing, and the root for calamus means standing up. Calamus grows in a marsh or muddy place. But even though it grows in a marsh, it is able to shoot up into the air. According to the sequence of the spices, this calamus signifies the rising up of the Lord Jesus from the place of death. The Lord was put into a marsh, into a death situation, but in resurrection He rose up and stood up. Calamus, therefore, signifies the precious resurrection of Christ.

Cassia

The fourth spice, cassia, signifies the power of Christ’s resurrection. Cassia and cinnamon belong to the same family. Cinnamon is from the inner part of the bark, and cassia, from the outer part of the bark. Both cinnamon and cassia are sweet and fragrant. Furthermore, the plants from which they are derived often live and grow in places where other plants cannot grow.

In ancient times cassia was used as a repellent to drive away insects and snakes. Cassia thus signifies the power, the effectiveness, of Christ’s resurrection. Christ’s resurrection can withstand any kind of environment, and His resurrection certainly is a repellent. It repels all evil “insects” and especially the old serpent, the Devil.

Myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia are all of one category of materials, the category of the spices. Now we come to the olive oil, the only item in the second category.

Olive Oil

In the Bible olive oil signifies the Spirit of God. Olive oil is produced by the pressing of olives. The olive oil signifies the Spirit of God, through the pressure of Christ’s death, flowing out.

The olive oil is the base of the ointment; it is the basic element compounded with the spices. The four spices are compounded into the olive oil to make the ointment. This indicates that the Spirit of God, signified by the olive oil, is no longer merely oil, but now it is oil compounded with certain ingredients. Regarding this, John 7:39 says, “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. ” This means that before the Lord’s glorification, the compound Spirit was not yet. It was after Christ’s resurrection that the compounding, or the blending, of such a Spirit was completed.

Life-study of Exodus

Message 158 (LSM)

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Cathy Barrera

Laredo, Texas, United States

Sep 19, 2024

This ointment is God's economy in liquid form. God's plan was revealed since the first tabernacle in the time of Moses. The high priest was drenched in this anointing carrying this crucified and resurrected Christ mingled God with man in the all inclusive Spirit into the Holy of Holies. Today we have this Christ the all inclusive Spirit in our spirit not just the type but the reality, what a Christ have we!!!

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YR

Mar 3, 2021

Ex 30:23You also take the finest spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred fifty shekels, and of fragrant calamus two hundred fifty shekels,

Ex 30:24And of cassia five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil.

Ex 30:25And you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant ointment compounded according to the work of a compounder; it shall be a holy anointing oil.

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Emerson

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

May 19, 2016

Life study of Exodus # 167

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Rose Rowe-Taylor

Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom

Apr 12, 2016

What a wonderful God we have who just keeps giving and giving all He is and all He has to a people He so dearly loves and treasures!

Now whenever I sing this song my being is full of profound appreciation to the Lord for the progress of His divine revelation concerning His Spirit from typology to reality; and all the processes He went through to accomplish that. These incense are just a typology of the Compound all-inclusive life-giving Spirit we enjoy today.

My experience and enjoyment of the Compound Spirit is deeper, sweeter and higher after the revelation received during the recent Crystallisation Study of Exodus.

Let us praise and thank our God for the Ministry of the Age that opens up the word to us.

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Ross Yang

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Jan 12, 2016

This hymn impressed in my heart from the winter training. I cannot believe I am full of tears when I sing it right now. Praise the Lord! I will never leave You. Strengthen me.

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Huilin

China

Dec 28, 2015

Praise the Lord! The compounded Spirit is anointing us! May our prayer and praise be real fragrance to God for His enjoyment!

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李 菲 麗

United States

Jun 16, 2011

What a "crystallized" hymn! While singing, it brings me into a richer understanding, deeper realization and application of the rich, blended, compound Spirit! May I experience this more and more!

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