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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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Baljeet

Dingalinga, Punjab, India

Dec 24, 2023

This is such a thru eternity moment!

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Harmeet Singh

Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Jul 27, 2023

Praise is the Lord Hallelujah, Amen

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Christopher Burk

Seattle, Washington, United States

Jul 17, 2022

The Father, Son, and Spirit-one

Amen! Three-in-One. The Triune God. So mysterious, but amen nonetheless!

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Gloria Park

Pago Pago, American Samoa

Jun 25, 2022

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.
The triune God, three in One!

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Richard T. Taylor

Siloam Springs, AR, New Zealand

May 22, 2022

Wonderful

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Sanjay Massey

Delhi, India

May 15, 2022

O God you are the Source of Life.

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.

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Jaime Barbosa

Acworth, Georgia, United States

Apr 17, 2022

Love, light, life in the spirit in the churches.

The house of God...

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Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Jan 31, 2022

The writer of the music for this hymn was Charles Hutchinson. Born in 1792, Glasgow Scotland and died January 20, 1860, Glasgow, Scotland.

Hutchinson was a merchant in Glasgow, and a member of Saint George’s Parish Church. An amateur composer and founding member of the Glasgow Dilettanti Society, he published an essay on church music and a number of hymn-tunes in Christian Vespers (1832).

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Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Nov 12, 2021

Stanza 6 of this hymn is the blessing of Paul as seen in 2 Corinthians 13:14–“the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”:

The love of God is the source, since God is the origin; the grace of the Lord is the course of the love of God, since the Lord is the expression of God; and the fellowship of the Spirit is the impartation of the grace of the Lord with the love of God since the Spirit is the transmission of the Lord with God for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God— The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with Their divine virtues.

In the blessing of the apostle Paul, the Triune God comes to people for their enjoyment; Paul not only brought people into the presence of God but also brought God into them.

Love, grace, and fellowship are the three stages of God for our enjoyment—love is within, grace is love expressed, and fellowship

(the application of love) is the transmission of grace into us.

In Numbers 6:22-27 we see a pattern of blessing by the priests; this blessing is neither an Old Testament blessing nor a New Testament blessing; rather it is the eternal blessing of the Triune God which is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment:

“Jehovah bless you and keep you" can be ascribed to the Father—(v. 24). The Father blesses us in every way and in every aspect in His love (Eph. 1:3) and He keeps us in every way and in every aspect of His power.

John 17:11

“Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you” can be ascribed to the Son—(v. 25) The word face signifies presence, as One whose face shines upon us, Christ the Son is the visible presence of the invisible God—2 Pe. 1:16-18.

"Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace" can be ascribed to the Spirit—(v. 26)The countenance denotes the expression of the person; to lift up our countenance upon a person means that we confirm, assure, promise, and give everything to that person.

Jesus came as the face of God, and the Holy Spirit comes as a countenance of God; if we grieve Him, His countenance will drop, but if we obey Him, He will be happy with us, and He will lift up His countenance to confirm us, assure us, guarantee us, promise us, and give us everything.

Crystallization-Study Outlines

In Psalms 23:6 we also have the blessing of the Triune God. “Surely goodness and loving- kindness will follow me. ” This is the fifth stage of Christ’s shepherding which is the lifelong enjoyment of the divine goodness and lovingkindness in the house of Jehovah.

Under the organic shepherding of the pneumatic Christ, goodness and loving-kindness “follow us all the days of our life” referring to the present age. Goodness refers to the grace of Christ, lovingkindness to the love of the Father, and follow implies the fellowship of the Spirit.

Psalm 23:6 footnote 1.

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Inomus

May 16, 2021

I love this song

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