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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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Christ the Lord is ris’n indeed

Praise of the Lord His Resurrection

English117
1
Christ the Lord is ris’n indeed,
Hallelujah!
He has met His people’s need,
Hallelujah!
Raise your joys and triumphs high,
Hallelujah!
Sing, ye heav’ns and earth, reply,
Hallelujah!
2
Lives again our glorious King,
Hallelujah!
Where, O Death, is now thy sting?
Hallelujah!
Dying once He all doth save,
Hallelujah!
Where thy victory, O grave?
Hallelujah!
3
Love’s redeeming work is done,
Hallelujah!
Fought the fight, the battle won,
Hallelujah!
Death in vain forbade Him rise,
Hallelujah!
Christ ascended o’er the skies,
Hallelujah!
4
Soar we now where Christ hath led,
Hallelujah!
Following our exalted Head,
Hallelujah!
Made like Him, like Him we rise,
Hallelujah!
Free from all the earthly ties,
Hallelujah!

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Deidre Johnson

San Diego, California, United States

Oct 5, 2026

Haahh Ahhh Laayy Luuh Yahh!!!!! 😤🫁🪟✈️

Hallelujah! ‼️❣️😇

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Rebecca Suzanne Wilging

Riverside, CA, United States

Apr 5, 2026

Love’s redeeming work is done,
HALLELUJAH!
Fought the fight, the battle won,
HALLELUJAH!
Death in vain forbade Him rise,
HALLELUJAH!
Christ ascended o’er the skies,
HALLELUJAH!

Read more
Un Hermano

Oct 30, 2025

THE SIGN OF THE LORD’S BROTHERS

In verse 17 we have the sign of the Lord’s brothers: “Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. ” The sign of the Lord’s brothers signifies His multiplication as His glorification in resurrection. This is the crucial point in this chapter.

Recently in a meeting we sang the hymn, the first line of which is, “Christ the Lord is ris’n indeed. ” Although this is a good hymn on the Lord’s resurrection, and everything in it is true, it is very objective. In this hymn we do not have anything concerning the multiplication and glorification of the Lord Jesus. This hymn says that Christ “has met His people’s need. ” But what exactly is our need? In what matters do we need the Lord’s resurrection? We need to answer such questions according to our actual experience. One line of this hymn goes on to ask the question, “Where, O Death, is now thy sting? ” Can we say that in our daily living we do not suffer from the sting of death? We must admit that in our practical experience death is still powerful. In our family life, for example, we may be stung by the power of death. Another line of this hymn asks, “Where thy victory, O grave? ” Many Christians cannot sing this with any sense of reality. The last lines of this hymn say that now we soar where Christ has led, following our exalted Head, and that like Him we rise, “free from all the earthly ties. ” However, in our experience are we rising and soaring? Are we truly free from all the earthly ties? Not many of us can answer these questions in a positive way.

Although this is a good hymn on certain objective aspects of Christ’s resurrection, it does not express what the Gospel of John reveals to us regarding the resurrection of Christ. In John’s Gospel the resurrection is divine and mysterious, for it is related to Christ’s multiplication and glorification. According to this book, we have become the many brothers of the resurrected Christ. This means that we are His multiplication, His glorification, in resurrection.

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Anitha Nokku

Tustin, CA, United States

Oct 1, 2025

Oh Christ! He is risen. He has met his people’s need. Hallelujah! Now he is living in us as the Life Giving Spirit!

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Un Hermano

Jul 7, 2025

RESURRECTION

We now come to the third major step of Christ: His resurrection. After His death, Christ was resurrected. What was the divine thought in this? God had planned that all creation should both be created through Christ and cohere in Him (Col. 1:16-17). Christ must be the means of creating and the center of the creation. Then, at a certain point, God’s thought was to bring all things to an end by putting them to death in Christ. But that is not the end, because God in Christ could never be conquered by death. Death can never hold Christ (Acts 2:24), for He is the fountain of life. He went into death willingly, and He stepped out of death boldly. Even as all things were created through Christ and brought to death in Christ, so now all things are resurrected in Christ. This is the divine thought: to create all things in Christ, to bring all things to death in Christ, and then to resurrect all things in Christ.

How should we deal with people? It is simply by taking Christ as life. Christ is risen to be our life. May we realize this positively in our daily lives. Listening or reading is not enough. We must put this into practice. We must take Christ as our life for every occasion. How very real and practical it is. If we do this, we will very quickly be filled with Him in our spirit (Eph. 5:18). We will be full of Christ, and our whole being will be saturated with the Spirit. The Lord is seeking this kind of people today. To live by Christ is true spirituality.

The Four Major
Steps of Christ:
Chapter 3 (LSM)

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Kai Cenat

Fairborn, Ohio, United States

Sep 8, 2024

Amen free from all earthly ties

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Andy

Bad Wildungen

Apr 18, 2024

Made like Him like Him we rise! Thank you Lord for the indwelling spirit.

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Ying Lee

Singapore

Apr 6, 2024

Just sang this in the recent Easter service. The exultant, soaring notes of this hymn mirror our Lord's triumphant resurrection and ascension. Glory Hallellujah!

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Nikolina

FL, United States

Feb 5, 2023

Hallelujah!!

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Pey-Jing Mehrinfar

San Marcos, Texas, United States

Nov 14, 2022

What a wonderful hymn of praise. We sang this at brother Allen Bayes’ Memorial and were all enjoying as one Body. Praise the Lord for His resurrection life! Thank you for this life and testimony of Jesus!

Soar we now where Christ hath led,
Hallelujah!
Following our exalted Head,
Hallelujah!
Made like Him, like Him we rise,
Hallelujah!
Free from all the earthly ties,
Hallelujah!

Read more