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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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God gave His Son to man to be

Experience of Christ As Food and Drink

English1145
1
God gave His Son to man to be
The tree of life so rich and free,
That every man may taste and see
That God is good for food.
Yes, God is good for food!
Yes, God is good for food!
We’ve tasted and we testify
That God is good for food!
2
We eat this feast and take God in,
And as we eat we live by Him,
For all the elements within
This feast are God Himself.
Yes, Jesus is our feast!
Yes, Jesus is our feast!
We eat this feast and live by Him,
For Jesus is our feast!
3
Christ Jesus is the food we eat;
He is our bread, He is our meat;
He is our life-supply complete;
We daily eat of Him.
We daily eat of Him,
We daily eat of Him.
He is our life-supply complete;
We daily eat of Him.
4
This feast is so enjoyable;
To men it’s so available,
For God said whosoever will
May come and freely eat.
Yes, come and freely eat;
Yes, come and freely eat.
For God said whosoever will
May come and freely eat.

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Oct 6, 2026

Praise the Lord, we can live a God-man life by the divine life as we eat Jesus in His word every day! Hallelujah 😀

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Ruth

Tirane, Albania

Aug 26, 2026

This feast is so enjoyable 🤍

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CC

London, United Kingdom

Aug 16, 2026

Jesus my life supply
I eat of him daily ….
Amen amen

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Nyrik Williams

Fairdih, Ohio, United States

Aug 2, 2026

Amen

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Jim Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

May 14, 2026

This was a little inspiration I had this morning regarding eating. I remember this from a message I heard in high school. I’ve always been impressed by Gods command to the Jews in John 6, to eat Him. It is how we receive LIFE. This had great meaning the Jews had no way to understand. Now we know eating is taking God in by faith to be our food supply, our very life!

Matthew 9:37 “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few”. Isn’t this the situation today!

A harvest implies gathering. But also implies food. Christ was the single grain. The saints produced by Him are the many grains.

Our spiritual experience of Christ is actually food for God and he will take us in as His enjoyment.

Wheat is used to represent the believers. It is meant for food but must go through a joint process to become bread for God corporately. The wheat must be gathered. It must be ground into fine flour. It must be baked. It is baked (trials) with oil and water symbolizing the spirit in life. The product will be the finished bread to satisfy God.

Christ is the LIVING bread with no leaven, that came down from heaven. In end there will be an expression of the one loaf (church) to satisfy the father. 1 Cor 10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers (eaters) of that one bread. John 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. Our Christian Life is a result of eating the Word. The oneness of the body, the one loaf, is the result of eating the bread. This entire process is in context of God’s great love for us.

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James Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Jan 28, 2026

Faith is the key to the gospel of John and the whole Bible. We can not know God or receive the things of God unless we come to the word by faith. We should live by the faith in Christ Jesus our whole life. We know that Christ came down from the Father as the living bread. What else would we do but eat Him and live? Eating is taking the word into us by faith. That is Gods intention for His children in the New Testament. We must eat Him daily. By doing this we are partaking of the tree of life, eternal life.

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Un Hermano

Dec 24, 2025

First Corinthians 1 begins by showing explicitly and clearly that God has given us Christ as our eternal portion to be our power, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God gave His Son to us as our eternal portion so that we can be supplied and sustained and can live a life that no one can live, endure sufferings that no one can endure, take ways that no one can take, and do a work that no one can do. In this way we become men among men and men of men. Today in following the Lord, in serving Him, in administrating the church, and in testifying for the Lord, the best way is to be crucified with the Lord and to live with Him in resurrection. In the church or in His work, whenever we encounter difficulties, criticisms, or even opposition, and it appears that we have come to a dead end, our way out is Christ and His cross. Our whole Christian living, our administration of the church, and the Lord’s leading in our service all depend on our dying and living with Christ. This is the power, and this is the wisdom.

A Deeper Study of the Divine Dispensing

Chapter 9 CWWL, 1990, vol. 3 (LSM)

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LC

San Juan, NCR, Philippines

Dec 12, 2024

" As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. "

- John 6:57

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Songeza

Durban, KZN, South Africa

Nov 3, 2024

God is good for food

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Clay Sylvester

Waukegan, Illinois, United States

Mar 30, 2024

The matter of eating Christ, the Word, is crucial to a normal Christian life and a normal Christian church life. No eating? No life. No drinking? No life. This is why we have to humble ourselves, mostly humbling our minds, by this eating and drinking of the Spirit poured out on all flesh. This way is a stumbling block for unbelievers... but it is the way of life for those who do believe. Really though, we must be attentive to our own daily eating, and help one another to enjoy the Lord in His Word, lest we ourselves return to unbelief. This is the way to enter into the kingdom daily... if not, we cannot enter. I am so thankful for these enjoyable songs and hymns and spiritual songs, especially the ones composed by and through this ministry.

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