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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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O God, Thou art the source of life

Worship of the Father As the Source of Life

English12
1
O God, Thou art the source of life,
Divine, and rich and free!
As living water flowing out
Unto eternity!
2
In love Thou in the Son didst flow
Among the human race;
Thou dost as Spirit also flow
Within us thru Thy grace.
3
Though we in sin and wickedness
Went far from Thee apace,
Yet in the Son Thou didst redeem,
Bestowing life and grace.
4
Though we have often slighted Thee,
Thy Spirit often grieved,
Yet Thou dost still as Spirit come
As life to be received.
5
Thou as the Spirit in the Son
Hast mingled heretofore;
Thou wilt thru fellowship anoint
And increase more and more.
6
The love of God, the grace of Christ,
The Spirit’s flowing free,
Enable us God’s wealth to share
Thru all eternity.
7
The Father, Son, and Spirit—one,
So richly care for us;
Thy love with one accord we sing
And e’er would praise Thee thus.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Someone

Jul 6, 2025

I love You Lord

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V C

Tampa, FL, United States

Jul 6, 2025

♥️In love Thou in the Son didst flow
Among the human race;
Thou dost as Spirit also flow
Within us thru Thy grace. ♥️

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Julia

Belleville, Ontario, Canada

Jun 8, 2025

Praise the Lord for our Father He really care for us!

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Corinne

Plumas Lake, California, United States

Jun 8, 2025

Thank You Father, Son, and Spirit—one,
So richly care for us;
Thy love with one accord we sing
And e’er would praise Thee thus.

Read more
Sharon

Rancho Cordova, California, United States

Jun 8, 2025

The love of God, the grace of Christ,
The Spirit’s flowing free,
Enable us God’s wealth to share
Thru all eternity.

Read more
Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Jun 3, 2025

O God, Thou art the source of life,
Divine, and rich and free!
As living water flowing out
Unto eternity!

Hallelujah, what a blessing it is to have God’s face, His presence, and to enjoy Him daily as grace! We come to You, Lord, and we just open to enjoy You!

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Un Hermano

May 21, 2025

THE FLOW OF THE

DIVINE TRINITY

Every morning after rising up we need to say, “Lord, thank You for a new day for me to take You as my Lord. I subject myself under Your headship for the whole day. Lord, set up Your throne in my life. Set up Your throne in the center of my being. Lord, bring my whole day with my daily life under Your throne. ” If you would offer such a prayer to the Triune God every morning, from that moment you would have the living water flowing within you. This living water flowing is the flow of the Triune God. It is not a small thing that the Triune God flows in you today. He flows in you as the One who purposed, as the One who redeemed, and as the One who is the life-giving Spirit. This One is the very consummation of the Triune God reaching us as the living water.

Such a subjective revelation has been missed by many of today’s Christians. I hope we all would realize in our experience that whenever we subject ourselves to the Triune God, taking Him as our Head, we enjoy a flow within us. Thank the Lord that in the Lord’s recovery, day after day, month after month, year after year, and time after time, what is stressed is the unique flow. We have given many messages that tell us that the Triune God is flowing. There are also many hymns in our hymnal concerning this subject. The first two stanzas of Hymns, #12 say,

O God, Thou art the source of life,
Divine, and rich, and free!
As living water flowing out
Unto eternity!
In love Thou in the Son didst flow
Among the human race;
Thou dost as Spirit also flow
Within us through Thy grace.
God's New Testament Economy Chapter 38 (LSM)

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Un Hermano

May 21, 2025

The Ultimate Consummation
of the Dispensing
of the Triune God into Man

The New Jerusalem, as a consummate expression of the Triune God, is supplied and nourished by the Triune God (22:1-2, 14, 17). God as the Father is the source, the Spirit as the water of life is the flow, and the Son as the tree of life is the life supply. In Revelation 22 a river of living water flows from the throne of God. Within this river grows the tree of life. This is a clear view of the Triune God in His dispensing. The Father as the source is on the throne with the Lamb because He is the redeeming God, the Lamb-God. There is only one throne, but two are sitting on the one throne. How can two sit on one throne? God the Father as the light is within the Son as the lamp (21:23; 22:5). The Father is in the Son, so God is in the Lamb. And the Lamb is the lamp containing God as the light. This is the Lamb-God, the redeeming God. Out of this redeeming God flows the river, signifying the Spirit. In the flow of the river of water of life, the Lamb becomes the tree of life. The Lamb is for redeeming, and the tree is for nourishing. The life-dispensing river circles the entire city as it flows downward from the throne of the Lamb-God in a spiral flowing. This flowing is the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people as life and the life supply in fullness for eternity. This city is built with the Triune God as the materials, and it is supplied and nourished by the Triune God as the life supply.

The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity

Chapter 10 (LSM)

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Jimmy Donaldson

New York, United States

May 11, 2025

AMEN!!!!! I love this song so much!!! 14/10 DEFINITELY!! 👍

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Rainnrai

Apr 20, 2025

Amen!

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