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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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Our eyes have seen the vision

Spiritual Warfare Coming Forward

English1284
1
Our eyes have seen the vision:
The goal is now in view,
Christ has defeated Satan,
And sin and death are through.
The way is cut and open,
The paths are all made straight;
We’ve heard the call: Come forward!
We’ve laid aside each weight.
 
Come forward! Come forward!
Our Christ is on the throne.
His ministry, so heavenly,
Brings all—brings all the fighters home.
2
Our eyes have seen the vision
Since Christ our conquering King
Has called us to the battle,
Which He did surely win.
The vict’ry He bequested
Two thousand years ago
To all the glorious fighters
Who’ll forward with Him go.
3
Our eyes have seen the vision.
Our Captain leads us on.
To press into our spirit,
To share with Him the throne.
Lord, Thou hast giv’n Thy soldiers
The pow’r to wield the sword,
And made us glorious fighters
Through Spirit, church, and Word.

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Philip

United States

Jan 23, 2026

Hebrews 11/5-6 By faith Enoch was translated so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation he obtained the testimony that he had been well pleasing to God. But without faith, it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Enoch was translated that he should not see death and he was not found.

We also need to take Enoch as our pattern.

Gen. 5; 32-24 states Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him.

Lord help us to keep coming forward daily, hourly to the Christ who is on the throne, who brings all His fighters home.

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Sep 2, 2024

Praise the Lord!

Come forward! Our Christ is on the throne. His ministry, so heavenly. Lord, made us glorious fighters in Spirit, church life , and in our daily living. Brings us all the fighters home! Hallelujah 😀

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Dean

Esquimalt, BC, Canada

Sep 25, 2021

The phrase, Come forward is very striking in the book of Hebrews. It occurs six times.

1. Hebrews 4:16 says, Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

2 & 3. Hebrews 7:25 says, Hence also He is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him (Christ). Chapter 11:6 says, But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

4. Chapter 10:22 says, Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies (our deeds) washed with pure water.

5 & 6 Chapter 12:18 & 22 say, For you have not come forward to a mountain which could be touched and which was set on fire and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind... but you have come forward to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem....

We, the new testament Hebrews must be those who continually come forward. We come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. We come forward to God so that we may be saved to the uttermost. We come forward to the Holy of Holies to experience and enjoy the sprinkling of the blood and the washing and renewing of the Spirit.

We come forward to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem to enjoy the new covenant of grace in the church life as the reality of the Body of Christ. In the new covenant of grace our God declares that He will do everything for us. This is the great salvation prepared by God for us. However, in order to experience and enjoy this salvation we must continually and continuously come forward to this wonderful One.

In the book of Hebrews the apostle Paul also warns us against shrinking back. This phrase is used twice in Hebrews.

1, Chapter 10:38 says, But My righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back, My soul does not delight in him.

2. Verse 39 says, But we are not of those who shrink back to ruin but of those who have faith to the gaining of the soul

To shrink back is to return to the things of the old dispensation. It is to go back to the law instead to grace, to observe outward things such as the Sabbath, the feasts etc. This results in us not exercising our spirit to contact and enjoy God. God's organic salvation cannot be carried out to its full conclusion if we remain in our old man, our natural man or our soul life. We must press on by running with endurance the race that is set before us, looking away unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith until we reach the goal: the full enjoyment and experience of Christ.

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Kathy Allen

Katy, Tx, United States

May 11, 2020

This song is precious. I have sang it many times but today it's more precious. He's called us into battle, Which He did surely win. Every line that moves us forward He is there already. The real battle isn't our husbands, jobs, or children. It's getting to our spirit. But he is there already. We are just with Him. So attainable.

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